Breathe Out Compassion
1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a
Ephesians 5:8-14
John 9:1-41
Divine Inspiration
Today’s
reading from the Old Testament involves Samuel making a judgment about
Eliab. It says that, “Samuel looked at
Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is here before him.’ But the Lord says to Samuel, “Do not judge
from his appearance or from his lofty stature.
No man sees as God sees. Man sees
the appearance, but God sees into the heart.”
This is a tremendous reminder of the old adage not to judge a book by
its cover. It seems logical, and we all
may be thinking to ourselves, ‘Well sure, I know that!’ But knowing and doing are two different
things. How often do we hear about
political or wealthy figures in the news coming upon a hardship and we think,
‘Oh, well, I’m sure he or she can afford it?’
Or, the opposite can happen, such as what happened to Samuel – we see
someone who appears to be great at what they do or beautiful or just have it
all together, and we think, ‘Wow, that person must have a great life!’ And again, it’s just our perception. We don’t know what that person is dealing
with inside, in their hearts. But, God
does. He is the only one who
does. Even those who we call our closest
friends and family have issues on their hearts that only God sees, not us.
When
we feel that moment of judgment coming on, you know – the eyebrows start to go
up, a sigh of exasperation starts to form in the back of our throats – we can
catch ourselves in that moment. We can
give compassion instead of judgment, even if the other person looks like
they’re not in need of any. Take a deep breath
and replace judgment, any type of judgment – for better or for worse – with the
belief and mindset that we DON’T see everything, and breathe out kindness and
compassion. This continual practice of
giving kindness and compassion to everyone around us will make us softer,
gentler, more accepting and loving people filled with God’s love.
Amen.
Readings
and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, March 10, 2013.
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