Compassion

"Just poop already!" I yelled this at our dog Twinkie yesterday morning as we were finishing up our morning run. I am sure to any passerby, I looked like a crazy dog owner without compassion for her nervous pooch who was just trying to find the perfect spot to do his business. And they would be right. I was so over it!

As I muttered under my breath while walking back to the apartment complex, I began to feel so silly. Who does that? Who commands anything to poop? It was such a silly moment but it made me wonder where was my compassion for others, including living creatures that our God made for enjoyment, had  disappeared to.

But it was still there. Because the Holy Spirit lives in me, all things from Him are in me as well. I just needed to renew my mind to who I am in Him and all that it entails.


Colossians 3:12-13

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.


1 Corinthians 13:1-13 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful


Lamentations 3:22-23 

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

We have infinite amounts of compassion in us. We have compassion for our children when they stumble, our family when they falter, and strangers when they offend. Compassion is something we can show ourselves when we are our own worse critic. We have the power of Him in us to show love for all. It is not a burden, it is a gift! And our Heavenly Father renews are mind to it as often as we need to be reminded. Compassion does not come from guilt or from a list of things we must do in order to be the Best Christian Ever. It comes from our Savior and what He accomplished on the cross. And it can flow just as freely from us to others. Amen!