Almighty God, our heavenly Father, Your mercies are new every morning; and though we deserve only punishment, You receive us as Your children and provide for all our needs of body and soul. Grant that we may heartily acknowledge Your merciful goodness, and serve You in willing obedience; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
I know someone who had a tough time during the pandemic. This person confided in me that he sometimes went down to a local grocery store and bought something he did not need. He did this because if you use the self-checkout and enter your loyalty program ID number, the voice in the machine says, “Welcome, valued customer!” He said he just needed to hear that sometimes, someone who was glad to see him, no questions asked.
I haven’t quite gotten that low, yet, but there have been times in my life when I leaned heavily upon on the unconditional love of those who love me that way, the people who are just glad to see me, regardless of how glad I am to be me. I find such people to be a true gift from God. I pray you have a life filled with such folks.
God’s mercy is new every morning. He never gets tired of forgiving us. He never rolls his eyes and wishes he was with someone else. He is always glad to see you, to hear your voice, and to love you. It isn’t something in you that makes Him glad. It is His nature. There isn’t a think you can do to change it. He made a promise to you in your baptism. He keeps its. If you need that today, count on it. More likely, however, someone else you know needs that. Through you, God loves that person today. Call them, just to say hi and hear that person’s voice Tell them how glad you are to be their friend, parent, sibling, whoever you are. This will be a better day for hearing it from you.