Empathy part 5
Seeing things from another point of view. Walking a mile in someone else's shoes. Not necessarily the easiest thing to do all the time. But kind of important when it comes to the idea of loving people. Because love does not demand its (HIS) own way. Love lets people be who they are and do what they're going to do. And love doesn't keep a record of wrongs. I've heard people--religious people no less!--use this one, "I'll forgive, but I'm never going to forget." And, being the super empath that I am, I can see where they're coming from. Burn me once, shame on you. But burn me twice, shame on ME. Right? Because at that point I should have known better. After getting burned you oughta learn not to touch the fire anymore. But there's a pretty interesting verse in the old Bible that says, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more" (Hebrews 8:12). In fact, this is repeated almost word for word a few chapters later in Hebrews 10:17, "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." And if you link this idea with Micah 7:19, "He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea," we get the idea of the sea of forgetfullnes. That's where our sins and iniquities are. So my question has always been, "If God has forgetten about them, why do WE keep bringing them up?" Why are we always on a sin hunt instead of righteousness hunt? Why do we kick people when they're down and tell them what's wrong with them instead of reaching down and helping them up and telling them what's right with them? I think part of it is because misery loves company. We mess up, but we don't want to feel like we're the only ones capable of messing up, so we joy in the mess ups of others. But remember our verse in Romans 12:15? "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." We're supposed to connect with people. That's what we were created to do--to be loved, and to love each other with that love. To have relationships. That's what life is all about. Because that's what life IS. To live is to love and to love is to live. But you can't connect with someone when you're rejoicing when someone is weeping. And chances are, you understand WHY they're weeping. So rather than being happy that it happened to someone else... you ought to be happy that it happened to you, and because it did happen to you you can help them through it. We are blessed to be a blessing. And we go through things so we can help people through those same things. So my point is, maybe we should cast our own sins into that sea of forgetfullnes. Maybe we should stop letting our past hold us back and define us. Maybe we should stop judging everything by how it looks to us, and maybe we should try to see how it looks to someone else. See it from their point of view. Have some empathy. That's the more excellent way of love. Not expecting someone to feel a certain way, or act a certain way, but understanding how they feel. Understanding why they are acting the way they are acting. And, in understanding it, we can actually, you know, help them. Which is always my test: Is what I'm doing helping or hurting? Well, if you seek first to understand, you'll be able to do more helping and less hurting. You'll be able to love people the way THEY need to be loved!