God's Compassion

"When we reach out to others, we share God’s compassion with them. We are His hands on earth. We can reach out and touch others by concentrating on what they are saying and not saying. We can make a difference in others’ lives by making ourselves emotionally available, by becoming vulnerable and allowing others to be vulnerable, by caring even when it costs us." (Gwen Weising)

~~~~~~~~

I recently read this quote, and got all excited. I could not agree with it more!!! To hear it put so plainly and eloquently was, quite frankly, validating for me. There are people in my life who've chastised me for being so open, and chided me for seeing so many of my encounters with others as an opportunity to minister in some way. I call them "Divine Appointments" (I heard that term at a seminar once, and it stuck w/ me).

I often hear God's still, small voice telling me to give someone a hug, or a smile; a phone call, or a word of advice or encouragement; a listening ear, or sometimes a long and heartfelt email about how deeply God loves them. There are many ways and many opportunities to shed a little light in this dark world. I don't always hear, or rather listen, to His voice urging me often to jump out of my comfort zone, make myself vulnerable, and reach out to another in love. But I try very hard to be discerning and alert to His leading, and not miss these beautiful opportunities. After all, this is what life is all about... Love.

I chose not to listen to the closed-hearted, doubting, chiding voices that tell me to stop wearing my heart on my sleeve, and stop sharing my heart and baring my soul to so many. I feel it's my duty... My calling, for His Kingdom. I am aware my openness has caused me to be very vulnerable and has even opened me up to being hurt by those who didn't understand it, or took advantage of it. Yes, there have been times my "reaching out" has cost me. BUT, those were just more opportunities to grow and learn how to protect my heart while continuing to give of my heart for the purpose of spreading God's love and enlightenment. It does not mean I should shield myself, and stop being open and spiritually and emotionally generous! That'd be a slap in the face of my God, Who tells me to freely give... to love my neighbor just as much as I love my own self... to be the salt that's sprinkled about this earth, seasoning it for God's coming glory.

So my choice is to be humble about my faults, raw and real with myself and others about my awkward humanity, and accepting of God's grace and unconditional Love (which I STILL have such a hard time fathoming, though I trust and believe that it is). I choose to be, to the best of my ability, a distributor of God's compassion.