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We All Walk By Sometimes—And Still, Mercy Calls Us Back

There’s a story Jesus told that still pierces the heart.

A man is beaten, robbed, and left half-dead on the side of the road. Two respected figures pass by—religious leaders, even. Maybe they had important tasks to get to. Maybe they felt helpless, afraid, overwhelmed. We don’t know. But they walked by.

Then, a Samaritan—an outsider, someone others might have dismissed—saw the man and was moved with compassion. He stopped. He bound up wounds. He paid the cost. He made space in his life for a stranger’s suffering. He acted.

That story still echoes today. As policies are passed and programs are cut—programs meant to feed the hungry, care for the sick, shelter the unhoused, welcome the immigrant—we see more and more people left in the ditch. And many of us, even with good hearts, feel unsure what to do. We scroll, we shake our heads, we whisper prayers, and we walk on.

But here is the good news: Even when we walk by, God’s mercy does not walk away from us.

God’s mercy meets us exactly where we are—not to shame us, but to awaken us. To call us back to love. To remind us that we are not powerless, and that we are still called. It’s not too late to stop, to turn around, to kneel beside someone else’s pain and do what we can with what we have.

This is a time for prayer—but not prayer alone. Let us pray for those who suffer from indifference and injustice. Let us pray for leaders who hold power over decisions that shape lives. And let us pray for our own awakening—because we are needed.

But then, let us act. Let us contact our representatives. Let us support grassroots organizations. Let us show up, give what we can, speak up when it’s uncomfortable, and refuse to accept that “walking by” is ever the final word.

Because Love is still calling. Mercy is still moving. And we can still be part of the healing.

Lord, give us eyes to see, hearts to feel, and courage to respond. Let your mercy lead us—not only to prayer, but to action. Amen.

Dear Soulful Friends,

Today my heart is heavy, and I write to you not just with words, but with tears. Like Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, I feel the ache of grief for what is happening in our own day. And so I invite you into this sorrow with me—not to be overcome by despair, but to be awakened by love.

In Gaza, mothers and children—waiting in line simply for nutritional supplements—were killed.

In our own country, the Head Start program has now been stripped of its ability to serve children of undocumented parents.

In California, young farm workers—some only teenagers—have been rounded up by ICE, and mothers have been taken from their children, left screaming for the only arms they know.

These stories are not just headlines. They are sacred human lives, unjustly broken. These are holy bodies, holy souls, wounded by policies and powers that fail to see the face of God in the poor, the foreigner, the child.

And still, Jesus weeps.

We are not powerless. Even in grief, we have a calling. We can hold space for lament. We can bear witness. We can speak, and write, and show up. We can support and shelter, pray and protest, share and serve. We can remember that the Spirit moves where hearts break open in love.

Let us not grow numb or weary. Let us not turn away. Let us lean into mercy, into justice, into the quiet knowing that God suffers with the suffering, and calls us to do the same.

With sorrow, and with sacred hope,

Marv

Psalm 34:18 – “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit”

Forgive us we know not what we do, may we learn the path of love.

We pick sides and people get hurt, when will we choose love?

Must our decisions end in suffering, if they must may our choice be compassion, toward all.

Are we foolish to think we can avoid pain and suffering? In this world we will have trouble… consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds, the Christ had to suffer… when will we learn?

Compassion unlocks the key to address our own pain and suffering… human suffering is very real. We lose loved ones, we get ill, we age, we die. We strive, to do good, to do right, and it often ends in more suffering.

Do we invite suffering? No, not purposely. We avoid suffering to our own detriment and the detriment of others.

So forgive us, have mercy on us, may we have mercy on others too, and ourselves, for we, they, all of us know not what we are doing… have mercy on us, we pray.

You can hide as Jonah for a time,

Far away, below deck, under a plant.

Mercy will find you, will find everyone.

Walking with Mercy is the lighter burden, the narrow path, our Destiny.

Those repentant in Nineveh heard Jonah, put down their pride. The Queen embraced Mercy too!

Are you hearing Jonah’s call today? Will you accept the Mercy and Humility carrying you to Glory?

Start walking and learn there is a way to go, a path to follow,

Walk hand and hand with Mercy!

Good morning My beloved,

I am here with you, your biggest fan!

You are working so hard, trying to serve and following My will.

Slow down for a moment, allowing Me to hold you my beloved, you can trust My loving embrace.

My beloved, you are gathering so many people and experiences and things around you… you are so busy collecting and maintaining and cultivating, so busy indeed.

Be still and know My love for you…

You’re looking for affirmation in the faces and words, of those known and unknown to you and yet, here am I, within you, guiding and loving your every breath, appreciating each hair on your head!

You know Me, be still and know My Love within you, for you, for all.

Relax into Me, my beloved, I am within and around you, I am holding you.

I hear you My beloved, yes, My mercy and compassion are yours, always.

My beloved, it is finished, long before you knew you needed to ask, you are Mine.

You are my Beloved until the end of time.