The Need for More Compassion

This is our B moment. Our moment to be still…to be fed by the Word of God…to be grateful.

Scripture reference: Matthew 7:12 (ESV)

This morning I am feeling that there is a growing need for more compassion in our society. Recently it was reported that Chicago hit the devastating milestone of five hundred homicides in 2016 – a figure that breaks my heart especially, because Chicago is my home city.

I was talking just the other day with a girlfriend who works a couple of days a week at one of the community-based organizations working to help first-time offenders get their lives back on course.  One day she started talking to one of the men there just out of the blue.

She said that they engaged in conversation for almost an hour. “It really seemed like I was just talking to a man about his life’s journey and some of the pitfalls of his journey. It did not seem like I was talking to a criminal per se,” she told me.

After talking with him and learning more about his story, the man said to my friend, “Even though I’ve been with this organization for a while, you are the first person who has taken an interest in me to understand my story.”

This reminded me of when Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 9:37-38, “The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few.  So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields.”

The Words that I use to teach me are, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”  Matthew 7:12 (ESV)

Please share this reflection because others also desire to be inspired.

So today, take a moment to share just a little more compassion wherever you are.