Today, Three-Word Wednesdays (3WW) brings us: just, penalize, and generous. I thought I'd address the dichotomy of trying to be just as well as being the one responsible for showing mercy. Not only judges in courts must face this dilemma.... Only our mortal belief that our own personal G-d does it right -- no matter how much our small minds are incapable of comprehending the final and ultimate purpose -- can really allow us to accept the things that happen to us, where justice is not served or where mercy is not meted out to our satisfaction. Can you imagine what it must be like, though, to have to be the one who decides?
My Godly Pursuits
Whether I am just or generous,
I must penalize that one.
Must I be righteous?
Where is my left hand
When I reach out to smite thee with justice?
Where is the mercy for the damned?
Whither can one show mercy and show justice?
How can mercy for one be justice for another?
How can justice for one be mercy on another?
Why am I the one to judge – to decide?
I want to be generous, loving and kind--
Yet I must be just, must penalize those I also love.
For without that, I am not a righteous God,
I cannot be trusted.
But if I am without mercy, I also
Cannot be trusted.
It seems that I
Am the one
Penalized.
