Compassion!

Are you truly compassionate? Genuine compassion requires that we address a hurt — and simply offer our love and caring. It does not mean that we weigh and measure a person’s circumstances, choices, or motivations. That judgment is left to God. We are simply to respond with charity when we see another soul in pain. This writer found a family who did just that:

Many years ago our family was going through a very difficult crisis that lasted about three years … I felt I couldn't associate with others much for fear of having them brought into our horrible situation. And because of the nature of our problem, church leaders were in a position to have to protect the Church, and, in my selfish state of personal turmoil, I felt betrayed.

However, there was a family who followed the spirit and continually showed kindness and support to our family. For months this family would stop by our home early every morning to leave an anonymous note of encouragement and love on our car windshields. A note was there every morning, rain or shine. At such a desperate time, this meant so much to know that someone cared and was offering their love and support.

Years passed and my bitter resentment finally turned to appreciation and recognition that the Lord had not forgotten me. He loved me and cared for our family in this difficult time by inspiring others to show their love and support, and through our visiting teachers and home teachers. How grateful I am now that they all saw our spiritual need and took care of it. I see how perfectly the Lord's organization really functions when we follow the spirit.

… I have begun to realize how I have been letting Satan control much of my life by allowing it to get cluttered with being busy … Are we taking the time to meditate and be still? Are we creating enough quiet time each day so we can hear the quite whisperings of the spirit? That is how the Lord directs us to help others and how he directs others help us. — Learning to serve better in Austin, TexasSimple caring can be the easiest thing to offer — and is so often the most appreciated. But it requires that we shelve our judgments and instead, love the way Christ did, remembering that a precious child of God is inside. We cannot know another’s heart, or private anguish, and must resist the assumptions that leap to mind. Ironically, to love purely is the easiest road to take; it’s when we tread on God’s territory and analyze from our imperfect perches, that we make life hard. He is asking us to make it easier on ourselves!