What is Compassion?

Yesterday, I went to the bakery to get some pastry. I got into a conversation with the lady behind the counter, and we started talking about the unusual heat wave we had been experiencing lately. I told her about our plans to go camping next weekend, she got all excited, and began reminiscing about the time when she used to go camping with her kids and her brother, and suddenly she started crying. She told me that her brother had a heart attack a few years ago, at the age of 43, and that he had passed away. She shared with me the shock of his unexpected death, and how much she missed him. She went on for a while, just sharing her pain with me, and I listened to her, and offered my sympathy. She stopped talking when another customer came in, and thanked me from the bottom of her heart before saying goodbye.

Why did she thank me? I didn’t bring her brother back, nor did I take away her pain… What was she thanking me for?

For a short time, she was not alone in her anguish; she had someone to share it with, someone who listened and sympathized. That was all she needed at the time, and that’s why she was grateful.

A story is told of a little girl who returned home late from an errand. When her mother asked her to explain why she was late, the child said she had met a friend who was crying because her doll was broken. Pleased, the mother expressed surprise that her little girl had known how to fix a broken doll. But the child said, “No, Mommy, I didn’t fix her doll. I couldn’t. It was broken too bad. I just sat down and helped her cry.”

We can’t always fix other people’s problems; we are not expected to. What we are expected to do as Christians is care and have compassion for one another. Sometimes, an ear is all that’s needed…

"Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous"       1 Peter 3:8

Stay blessed, and stay tuned,

Alpha Omega