Compassion

Today I have been thinking about compassion. With it we can enter into the life of another person without judgment, or the need to change them or change ourselves so that they might like us.  
With compassion we can really listen and actually hear. We can look and honestly see. We can move gently in the world without having to be seen to be the center or the fixer.
Matt Fox has some great stuff to say about compassion. So does St. Julian of Norwich. Read. Or talk to your spiritual director. Or just meditate. I say just, but I've been meditating for over 40 years. It isn't easy to stick with it. But it is worth it. For some, walking a labyrinth helps. Or just being outdoors. Use a mantra or a candle or a rosary or Mala beads.
In the long run it will change our lives. Our personal background noise will become something holy and full of peace. Self seeking will ip away, the AA Big Book says
  We "will know a new happiness and a new freedom.  We will not regret the past or wish to shut the door on it."
     Scripture says if we delight ourselves in God we will be given the desires of our hearts.  By halfway along in life, we may realize how much our heart's desire has changed. 
     We will be dedicated to having compassion for ourselves and all living things.  Let it be done to us as it is in heaven, which is much closer than we ever imagined. Amen.
     

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