Ouch! You feel a sharp pain in the back of your leg, like someone just kicked you squarely in the calf. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome mischievous prankster!\u201d you think to yourself as you whirl around with a snarl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To your surprise, you find on the ground an elderly lady who seems to have tripped while walking toward you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead of anger and indignation your reaction to the \u201cattack\u201d changes completely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead of shouting and retaliating, you find yourself rushing to help her up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What happened? Why the change of heart? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pain in the back of your leg hurts just the same. Why not give the elderly lady the tongue-lashing you thought she deserved?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The answer is… compassion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your compassion was invoked for the elderly lady and her plight. Instead of being upset by what she did to you, you felt sorry for her. Your compassion for her vulnerability made it easy to respond with kindness and patience, and easy to disregard any offense or unpleasantness she may have caused you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And you know what? She\u2019s not the only one who\u2019s going through a rough patch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Look around you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
People of all ages struggle with hardship and heartache. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This person has an ailing family member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That person struggles to make ends meet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It may not be visible to the untrained eye, but people everywhere grapple with anxiety, self doubt, loneliness, and other very real challenges that rob them of the life of shalom and the satisfaction they really want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you were dealing with a crisis \u2014 like work issues or a sick child \u2014 wouldn\u2019t you expect a little bit of extra compassion from your friends? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course you would. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So if you know that everyone around you faces a similar struggle, shouldn\u2019t you strive to be compassionate with them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Compassion is a powerful tool for responding to inappropriate or offensive things that people say to you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everyone has struggles. If you remember this when you\u2019re not being treated the way you should be, you can be compassionate and not get upset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Try this today: As you go about your day, look around at the people you see. Focus on just one person and imagine a challenge they may be facing. See if you can feel a sense of compassion toward them.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ouch! You feel a sharp pain in the back of your leg, like someone just kicked you squarely in the calf.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSome mischievous prankster!\u201d you think to yourself as you whirl around with a snarl.<\/p>\n To your surprise, you find on the ground an elderly lady who seems to have tripped while walking toward you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-816","daily-lesson","type-daily-lesson","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-normal"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n