After Christmas my wife and I hung a plaque and a box at our front door, and they are daily proclaiming God’s goodness. A favorite book in our family is “A Severe Mercy” by Sheldon Van Auken. In this true story, a Christian couple always says to one another at parting “Go under the mercy.” For Christmas my son and his wife made each family a plaque that says those words. We hung ours by the front door to see each time we leave the house. Those words, “Go under the mercy” are packed with meaning. We are all sinners who live in Him who, through His grace and mercy, has given us undeserved pardon with abundant, eternal life. Every moment we have is His free gift to us. We live “under His mercy.” When we walk out that door we never know what we will face, but we can face it with the confidence that the One who is all-merciful will walk through it with us. What a joy to live “under the Mercy!” We brought back from a recent trip to Israel a mezuzah for our front door. A mezuzah is a small box containing the Deuteronomy 4 command to “Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, and might.” In Israel there is one of these on every doorframe so that each Jewish person can touch it upon entering and remember this scripture. Now we have begun the same custom at our house. It’s a great reminder of what all life is about—that we live “under the Mercy”, and so we can love the Lord with everything we are and everything we have.
– Wayne Sigler