meditation on exposure to compassion

“Exposure to compassion changes you from the inside out.”

On Thanksgiving Day, Carol and I, and two friends loaded ourselves into a van and drove to St. Margaret Mary’s Church and picked up a Thanksgiving meal for one. We also received a flower and a bag of candy. Our task was simple: deliver the meal, the flower and the candy to (let’s call her) E.

The group that headed up this event is the “Little Brothers—Friends of the Elderly.” They want every delivery person to deliver the goods for thanksgiving, but more importantly, to spend an hour in conversation with this person. We did. And that was the best part.

E is elderly and can’t make it on her own. She has no relatives or friends to speak of. She’s really alone. We talked about our families and asked about hers. Sometimes she shared, sometimes not. We tried a little Scrabble. That lasted about 2 minutes, even with teams. We identified our favorite candies. Mine is toffee. She said, “My middle name is candy!” We talked about places we’ve lived and roles we played. E agreed it was unfair for girls to do all the housework while the “men just sit there, waiting to be fed.” E gave us some stories to listen to! Even though we didn’t know her, she volunteered to be our friend for an hour.

We’re not sure she’ll remember we were there. That didn’t matter to us. What mattered was being with her for an hour. We left thinking Thanksgiving was a good thing after all. And that made our dinner later that afternoon all the more tasty.

A friend of mine put this in a sermon and then he sent it to me:

“I believe that serving another person – expecting nothing in return – changes you and changes them. I believe that you have to have experienced compassion and forgiveness and generosity in order to do them yourself. I believe that even the slightest exposure to compassion, forgiveness and generosity changes you from the inside out and you have to pass it on.”

Part of who we are as Christians is to serve and hope that model is seen and experienced by others. And part of who we are is experiencing the change “from the inside out.” That’s what E did for us, and for that we are thankful.

Matthew 5:14

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”