Reflexion

This post is part of the blog carnival that is taking place over at Bridget Chumbley's blog.

The other night I made a late night trip to grocery store to get some more coffee. My goal was to just run in and run out but God had a slightly different plan. I immediately found the aisle with the coffee and quickly chose the brand that I wanted. I then began my way toward the check out line.

Before I got too far though a little First Nations boy came running up to me and said "Could you please help me get some peaches?" My immediate response was "I'm sorry but I don't work here." He just stared at me in bewilderment and replied "But I still need help!"

Of course I needed to help him now because I had no response to that (and more importantly my heart was stirred with compassion). He grabbed me by the hand and led me to his sister and pregnant mother. They were in the dairy section trying to get some peach yogurt from the top shelf and they couldn't reach it. It was a very simple need but I was able to meet it.

Nothing profound happened as a result of that little encounter (that I am aware of anyway) but it did get me thinking about compassion. According to the dictionary, compassion is "the humane quality of understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it."

In the Bible, the word that is translated compassion goes to a deeper level. It means to "feel the pain of others in your gut." It carries the meaning of being deeply moved by the other persons situation. Many times in the Gospels Jesus is said to have had compassion on people (Mark 6:34, Matthew 9:36, Matthew 14:14, Luke 15:20).

Unfortunately, not many of us are compassionate on a regular basis. We always seem to have a good excuse as to why we can't help. I want to share two things I believe keep us from being compassionate:


1. We become desensitized to people's needs.

When we become desensitized to people's needs we don't feel what they are feeling. Having peach yogurt meant nothing to me but it meant something to this little family. I believe media is a big contributor to our desensitization. We see so much need on a daily basis that it can become overwhelming. As a result, we learn to not feel the pain and the hurt of others. We need to keep our heart tender towards those who are in need.

2. We become distracted by other things.

I wonder how many opportunities to demonstrate compassion we miss because we are distracted by other things? We try to cram so much into our days that there is no time to help others. We need to stop and slow down and be looking for those little opportunities. We need to build margin into our lives so that we can take the time to show compassion.

What tends to keep you and/or others from being compassionate?