Compassion

Last week we dove into compassion for the less fortunate.  This week we're looking at compassion for the sinner.  This is a particular hard topic for me.  I want to work on this side of me and make myself less judgemental and more open to show compassion to all people.

Sometimes I look at others or read about people who have done something horrible or something I do not understand.

I say horrible because they are on the 6:00 news as a top story and it isn't for raising tons of money for cancer research. 

I say do not understand because they are doing something against proper judgement.  Or what I think is proper judgement.

In the fall, a house in a local community had camera crews and police all around it.  Bodies had been exhumed in the backyard of the residence.  Blasted on the television and computer screens were two mugshots.  One belonged to a self professed Satan worshiper and the other his significant other.

Facebook, local news channels, local journalism sources all had their own stories of this man and his "dark" past and present.

His story (constructed by the media) was put out for everyone to read.

It seems like the whole area was making comments and I followed suit.

I didn't make a nice comment about this guy.  I said something along the lines of him probably being an outcast in school...having daddy problems and this is what he does.

Yeah, it wasn't the worse thing in the world but it also wasn't the right thing.

I heard about a woman who was having children she couldn't afford so she could get the utmost benefits the system would allow.  She didn't seem to be actually caring for her children properly and her lifestyle caused a lot of people to look at her sideways.

I looked at her sideways, cross eyed, and with disgust.  I was angry that children were suffering at her expense.

But its okay to say things and look at people with distaste if they are using kids as pawns.  Right?  Wrong.

Part of being worth your salt in this life is stopping yourself from making the "funny" comments and judgemental comments at the expense of some one's situation.

That someone applies to everyone.

If we really follow the golden rule of life that means we don't say things that are hurtful about anyone because we don't want anyone saying hurtful things about us.

We cannot constantly right ourselves by thinking we can make snide remarks about people who do wrong or very different from the way we do things. 

And why not?

Because we are just like them.

Every day we all do something wrong.

Some days we may even do something a tiny bit hurtful.

Our wrongdoings, though they seem tiny to us, are equivalent to even the big sins in the eyes of the Creator.

That hurts to hear and to realize.

He sees all sins and calls them equal just as he sees us all made in an equal fashion.

Remember - we were made in His image.

What separates us from doing something heinous or skewed versus carrying on the way we are?  Is it chance, is it nature, is it nurture? 

Maybe it has a medical reason.  The chemical imbalanced brain or a brain that doesn't function correctly because something in the frontal lobe isn't reacting.

Maybe it has to do with a bad childhood that left wounds that never had the chance to heal.  A damaged self worth that was never properly explained.  Every action with that gaping wound is trying to bring some type of value to the person but it never does.  The wound was never given what it needed to heal.

Maybe it has to do with love.  Maybe it has to do with not understanding that no matter what happens here someone loves you through the good, bad, and ugly.  

No matter what it stems from there is something that would help the whole world.  A prescription for some compassion.  

You don't have to necessarily forget all the bad to realize that under that labeling and history is a real human being.  There's someone who probably loved cartoons as a kid, couldn't wait to drive as teenager, and was excited to bust loose and make a name for themselves as an adult.  Let's be real....when they wanted to grow up they probably didn't want a name on a DOC roster.  Nor did they wish to be the butt of our jokes or to be snubbed by any other human being.

Let's show compassion for these people by prayer, kind words, and lastly just a smile.  Not a fake smile, not a one up smile, but a real from the heart smile.

What would the world be like if we were just that much more compassionate.  Slow to speak when the work crowd or friends group starts in on someone that we really have no place to say a word about.



This week the challenge is to hold that tongue and actually stop and think before we say something stupid about someone.  We don't know their story (though we always think we do) and we don't know what they have went through.  Walk away from the talkers and instead think of what positive comment could be made.  Realize sometimes it is hard to say something positive and that is the opportunity to say a quick prayer for that person.

But also realize we're all the same....you've just been blessed enough to not turn the dark corner or be put in a terribly scary spot.

We're all sinners, we all do stupid and not so nice things, lets start trying to lift each other up.

See ya later.