Over lunch, a friend and I sat yesterday reminiscing, and wondering aloud about the need for more compassion in the world around us. We began to discuss the ways we could make a difference. It was a great conversation that I hope sees its way into action. The word “just” was not an acceptable excuse for not doing something, anything, about the human needs around us. “It is just…” is how rationalization starts. “I was just…,” often comes as a slick dart penetrates another’s heart.
The conversation reached some powerful agreements. We acknowledged the fact that the world in which we live is driven by profit, but we did not accept that we had to live by the need to acquire piles of money and pursue wealth at all costs. We talked about the fact that we often saw ourselves as powerless when we could make a difference, even when it might seem small. We understood that by working within the system today that we stand accused and probably guilty for getting our hands dirty. We resolved to do something to fill the compassion gap in the world around us.
What would I be willing to pay to receive these insights? They are priceless points of knowledge that one often ignores in the pursuit of some who-z-what-is-it obsession of the day. I found wisdom and realized anew that “Wisdom is better than all the trappings of wealth; nothing you could wish for holds a candle to her.” (Proverbs 8.11)
What am I going to do? Just sitting is not an option? Just letting these insights and resolutions go would be wrong! Just…anything but action is not acceptable.
Today, I resolve to make a difference in the lives around me. I commit to unreservedly give gifts of acceptance, mercy, love, patience, and most of all compassion to the people I meet and know. I commit to pray for those who God has given me to care for. I commit to look at the fullness of my responsibilities and integrate God’s compassion in everything.
Come; make a difference.
