To the stranger and the friend

Kindness is easy
Goodness runs plenty
Call me a Samaritan on the road
To the stranger unknown
To a person on the street
Never again to meet
Kindness and goodness flows through me

But to a friend who has wronged me
A brother who has hurt me
A dear one who has misjudged me
Lord have mercy

To the face I see every day
To the familiar voice now far away
Showing kindness everyday
Takes work I don’t contain

For the wrong flashes through tear filled eyes
A smile masks the pain inside
Again and again in the depths of my mind
I am the victim cornered each time

But You said Forgive
And love I must give
Show kindness through His Spirit
Reflect goodness like His

How can I hold on to their 7th mistake
When seventy times seven
Is but a drop in the ocean
Of wrong I have made

For before I was the victim, God, You were
Before they were the oppressor, Jesus, I was
So can’t I show a little bit of mercy
Extend the grace as it was for me

So teach me Lord I pray
To show the kind of love you displayed
The kind of grace you showed
Not just to the blind man on the road
But to the disciples everyday
Not just to John the beloved
But Peter and Judas before they betrayed

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