Every good thing comes from God above. And there are many gifts as there are many stories that express these gifts in the bible and other testimonies. Of all these gifts, the mercy of God is one of the most intriguing.

Mercy by dictionary definition, suggests many things but my favorite definition of mercy is a TENDENCY TOWARDS FORGIVENESS, PITY AND COMPASSION.

The height of God's compassion was shown when he sent his son to die for our sins. The question is what is our life worth?; what could our life be without mercy, without the pity, compassion and forgiveness of God.

As a priest of mine said:
WE ARE NOTHING BUT ECHOES OF GOD'S MERCY
The reference text is the gospel of Luke 13:1-9.

Christ hearing how the people talked about the death of the Galileans, saw that they had no form of compassion or pity for their fellow men. The first and second question Christ asked them clearly implied that they(people) are only alive because of the mercies of his father.

The story that followed was a clear description on how mercy works for us, on how some of us are still enjoying the life they have now even when they are neck deep in sin.
From the story of the fig tree(not the one that was cursed to never bear fruit), there are three categories of persons: the planter, caretaker and tree.

THE PLANTER:

God who is our father in heaven, our creator, is the eternal one and he creates and gives life to every living thing on the earth. He sows us like seeds into the earth and expect us to bear fruits. This is seen in the parable of the sower. Everyone who sows expects to reap and this is no different when it comes to God.

It is presumed that God(planter)in this story, has invested so much in the tree when it was a seed an until it became a tree. Now that he wants to reap the rewards of his investments and sacrifice, he finds that there is nothing to show for it.
Very disappointing

The feeling disappointment grew into anger, and he asked for the tree to be cut down, after all, it yielded nothing good for him. There was no point keeping it around. "So much time and efforts wasted", he must have thought to himself.

Luke 13: 7. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'

8. "'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it

See the sheer disappointment and anger in the last section of verse 7.
He said:
CUT IT DOWN! WHY SHOULD IT USE UP THE SOIL?

THE CARETAKER:

The caretaker who is Christ Jesus, seeing the anger of the planter, God whom is his father, stepped into the now esaclated issue.
The son knowing how much have been invested, still believed that there would be improvement if the tree was given a second chance. In verse 8, I found a favorite statement: GIVE IT ONE MORE YEAR.
The one more year was no doubt an expression for " give him a second chance ."
The caretaker not only gave the master, a reason to think that the tree will be bearing fruits, he also offered to "PREPARE" the tree.
"I will dig around it and add manure to it."

By this statement it was obvious that the caretaker was ready to pay the price to ensure the tree bears fruit, just as Christ made the ultimate sacrifice on the cross for all our sakes.

THE TREE:

We are the tree in this story. The tree that has not yet bore fruits even with the gifts that God has bestowed in our lives.
Ephisians 4:7 says that to everyone, a special grace or gift has been given what did we do with it?!
As in the parable of the talents, likeweise, God gas given us talents and expect to use it for him and yield fruits "fruits that will last". What have we done with our talents?
Our God gives us life and these gifts and talents and usually when he visits us for a reward of his gifts, we have nothing to show.

Looking at these three characters from the story, we would see that even when the father's(planter) wrath was kindled against his own creation(tree), it was the compassion and pity of the Christ (caretaker) that the creator was able to show us mercy. According to the popular gospel song: MERCY SAID NO

The story simply states one thing, that we are alive today is because of God's mercy, we are a a clear REFLECTION OF THE MERCY OF GOD. If you take out mercy we are nothing but an insignificant heap of dust.
Elementary Physics clearly tells us that echoes are a reflection of sound. A sound is made and it is reflected back to the observer after a period of time. That is how God's mercy works. His compassion and pity and forgiveness is reflected in us.

There are certain lessons we must learn from the mercy of God.

[1] Until calamities ceases to exist, every moment of our existence should and must be perceived as a gift of God's mercy.

[2] If every moment of our existence is purely as a result of God's mercy, then our lives should and must be lived in perpetual thanksgiving.

[3] If we are aware that our existence is purely as a reflection of God's mercy, then pride should and must notnbe found within us.
Pride may arise from us thinking that all that we have is due to our efforts and hardwork and strength. Well, as we all know, that is not entirely true. There are people who have done more than us in terms of being in the right with the things of God and greater calamity still befalls them. And here we are sinful and stained, but enjoying the life, it is God's mercy.

[4] if God our father, shows us this great mercy, then we too must in accordance with the scriptures show mercy(compassion, pity) to those whom have suffers great misfortune.

As the Latin hymn will sing:
MISERICORDIA SICUT PATER
"be merciful as your heavenly father is merciful."

[5] We must in our own way embrace every opportunity and avenue we have to show mercy.

[6] Finally, we should always remember that mercy comes with expectation. Just as in the story of the fig tree narrated by Christ, the caretaker after pleading for a second chance, EXPECTS that there will be FRUITS from the TREE eventually.

As enduring and long lasting as mercy is, the mercy of God that is, there comes a time when mercy becomes helpless. As God said: I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I WILL HAVE MERCY ON. This statement clearly shows that the gift of mercy bestowed on any man is simply an act of God's own "discretion". I for one believe that mercy cannot be forced, it is God who gives it, of his own will.
God is merciful as he is holy, so when he sometimes expresses his wrath, we should not think that he is not merciful. His mercy is everlasting but not to be taken for granted. We cannot continue to wallow in sin and expect mercy to ALWAYS speak for us.

CONCLUSION

Mercy is God's gift to us, and it is his to give. We must never for once, feel that we are alive due to our personal strength; that we made it because of our ow struggle, it is God's mercy reflecting in us. God who is the planter has allowed the caretaker, plead a good cause for us on the cross at calvary.
If we must receive the mercy of God always, then we must learn how to bear fruits. The caretaker who is Christ has solicited for us and asked for a second chance by shedding his blood for us. It was mercy flowing from his side even on the cross. Mercy was shown when he said " Father forgive them for they know not what they do". Remember the sacrifice that brought mercy to you and never forget it.
As trees planted by God, bearing fruits will not be easy, but if we approach the God, through his son Christ Jesus, he is going to give us all that is needed to excel. For God in his words said: MY PLAN FOR YOU IS TO BRING YOU TO AN EXPECTED END; A HOPE AND A FUTURE.

Father, help us to realise that our lives are lived today because you have shown us mercy, and that we show the same mercy to our fellow neighbors whom have offended us.
AMEN