-noun
a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune,
accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.
Webster defines it as a noun. I see it more as a verb, an action word, a do something word. For many of us it takes humility to show compassion.
"When you know suffering and humbling, you become intimate with humility,
and when humility becomes your friend,
it opens you to a world you never knew before."
Kelly Minter
3 comments:
I really liked what Kelly said on pg. 160, "How easy it is to get swept up in its rhythm, marching to the beat of religious mission, convinced we are keeping in step with Jesus - even leading the way - when suddenly we realize that at some point, maybe way back, Jesus has stopped. And there we stand miles ahead, beating on some hollow drum, realizing we have missed the very heart of the gospel: showing the compassion of Jesus to the least of these." Wow! Who might we be overlooking, or looking down? Maybe they are the very ones Christ is calling us to.
I think the thing that can challenge us in the area of compassion is not really understanding the road someone else is walking. For example, I know some women who have chronically ill husbands. Others in their lives don't always understand why they might not come to a family get-together or why they aren't in church on Sunday, or some other thing that others think they should be doing. Sometimes these ladies are wrongly judged because others don't really understand what their lives entail. I think we would have a lot more compassion for others if we were able to walk a few miles in their sneakers.
Beautiful points, Lisha. I can relate to what you said in both paragraphs.
Looking at the life of Jesus, I can see how compassion was not only shown, but it was also demonstrated. Christ responded with compassion. He was moved by compassion. Why not me; I too must have a heart of compassion.
Compassion is to love what love is to humility. They all go together.
I like what it said on pg. 165 whwere Jesus didn't tell Bartimaeus what he needed but aked him what he wanted. Jesus started His encounter with what was important to Bartimaeus, at the lace of his felt need. This is compassion. As we must let people know we care about what's important to them, not just what's important to us for them.
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