A Fresh Perspective - July 13, 2009
Compassionate people are persons secure in God's acceptance and love. It is this revelation of God's love that generates an overflowing source of gratitude for life. Being grateful for our inclusion in God's family and being sure of our identity as God's "beloved," we are free to more readily enter into the suffering of others.
This is why our perception and understanding of God and our relationship to God is so important. If we are secure in ourselves as God's "beloved" then we are free to be vulnerable. Authentic compassion requires a kind of vulnerability that leaves us unguarded and open to suffering. When we open ourselves up to the hurts of others and share in them we also open up our own hurts that may have been buried for some time. We can only bear such exposure by being absolutely convinced of and grateful for God's unconditional love that embraces us in all our sinfulness and provides for us, in our darkness, an ever present source of light. We are held up by Love and Love will never let us go.
A little girl approaches her father who is typing out a report on his computer. At first he doesn't notice her, but when she clears her throat, he looks over and says, "Honey, what do you want?" She says, "Daddy, it's my bedtime. Mommy said that if I come and stand beside you, you'd give me a hug and a kiss."
"All right," and he reaches down and gives her a hug and kiss. "Now, off to bed." He goes back to his computer. A minute later he looks away from his computer and his daughter is still there. He says, "Honey, I gave you a hug and kiss. What more do you want?"
She says, "Daddy, you gave me a hug and kiss, but you weren't in it."
You can give a hug and kiss and not be in it. I can preach a sermon or do a good deed for someone and not be in it. The compassion of God evokes a nearness and closeness that enables us "to be in" the words we speak and the service we render to others.
(This excerpt was taken from my book, "The Good News According to Jesus")