Compassion is not just sympathy. It is empathy. When it comes to dealing with difficult people, we mistakenly equate compassion with “fixing” them. Genuine compassion is first able to feel their pain. I believe one of the reasons we encounter and are commanded to deal with sandpaper people is because the more pain we experience, the more compassionate we will be. We must learn to look within to share the pain of others. There is a choice in every pain, an opportunity in every trial. I have a love-hate relationship with the Good Samaritan in the Bible. The Samaritan chose to use his pain and help an injured man. He understood the man’s pain because of the pain in his own life. There was no logical reason for this Samaritan to rearrange his plans and spend his money to help this “enemy” or “sandpaper person” in need. But compassion doesn’t look for reasons or search out limitations. It searches for opportunity. The Samaritan had a choice, just as we have a choice every time we are confronted with a need/pain. We can either ignore the need, or we can meet the need by giving away part of the comfort God has given us when we have been in pain. If we can’t prevent pain, we can at least lighten the load with compassion. Alan Redpath wrote, “You can never lighten the load unless you have first felt the pressure in your own soul.” Compassion makes us willing to feel the pain of others, responding as if it were our own.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 09:09:46 +0000
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