A few weeks ago, I came across a video clip on youtube. It was of a German WWII soldier, standing on the beaches of Normandy, placing flowers and paying tribute to his comrades that had been lost on those beaches.

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0d-6073ypw

My reaction, when I saw that video, just astounded me. At first, anger crept up in me. “How dare he pay tribute to his comrades on this sacred battleground!” I thought. “This is sacred ground, where American, British and French troops were wounded and killed, trying to defeat the Nazi regime and here is this man, in full WWII uniform, paying tribute to our sworn enemy.”

I thought about how I would react if I was standing on those beaches with him. I would have walked up to him and asked him to leave. I had this intense desire to rip the flowers out of his hand. He had no right to be there. I shuddered at my reaction. The anger seethed inside of me. I was really surprised by it. Where did it come from? I sure didn’t fight on those battlegrounds. Where was mercy in my reaction? It wasn’t anywhere to be found.

And then God spoke to me. Mercy should be extended to this man. He was a victim of the war, too. His loss was just as profound as our loss. He is no longer our enemy. He is our friend.

The truth is, most of the German soldiers were Wermacht soldiers and had nothing to do with the Nazi regime. They fought for Germany because they had no choice. They either fought or they were sent away to camps, a lot of them never to be seen again. This man probably mourned what had happened but he really had no choice but to be a part of it. He looked scared as he stood on that beach with flowers in his hand. He probably was afraid for what people might do to him. People like me.

And then, suddenly, sweet mercy swept over me and I teared up. Suddenly, I wished I had been standing on those beaches. I would have walked up to that man and hugged him and cried with him. His loss was the same as our loss. The blood shed on that sacred beach front is mixed with German and American and French and English blood. Every country suffered great loss there. It’s interesting how my reaction changed. The anger was gone and mercy had swept in.

And so, the 31 days of mercy series began. I really thought I knew a lot about mercy but I found out quickly that I really didn’t. God called me to work on this series. Not so much to educate anyone else but to educate myself. I was the one who needed to learn more about mercy. That was clear.

Mercy is a gift. And it belongs even on sacred battlegrounds.