A Lesson in Compassion
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I
have loved you, that ye also love one another. KJV
My daughter Catie was always a well liked child; wherever she went she was
accepted and loved.
Now that she is grown with daughters of her own, Catie is still friends with so
many people and everyone loves to come to her parties, because she is so
outgoing and loves people. She loves giving parties and she is very good at it.
As a mother it makes me proud to have her as my daughter. Catie was always a
good mother to her two girls even though she worked outside the home the whole
time they were growing up. She always made time for them and took them to many
different places and events. They never lacked love and attention from Catie or
her husband Ken, who was and still is a very good father.
When Catie was in the second grade in school, she had a very difficult teacher.
No matter what she did, she could not please Ms Green (not her real name). Quite
often she came home from school crying because Ms Green had hurt her feelings.
She said, “Mom, I don’t like that teacher, she’s mean.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“Because she is; everything I do is wrong,” Catie replied.
It went on like that for quite some time and I thought she would get over it;
that Ms Green would get to know her and everything would be alright.
However, it didn’t work out that way. One day Catie came home and she was very
upset.
She wanted to change classes. None of her other teachers had ever treated her
like Ms Green did. She got along with all of them. But for some reason Ms Green
did not like my daughter. I knew there must be something going on that was not
what it appeared to be.
At the time, I was not living for the Lord and my prayer life was minimal. But
somehow He always was there watching over me and my family. The wisdom I had in
this situation came from Him, not of myself. No mother was ever so bereft of
knowledge than I was when it came to raising children and knowing what to do in
a particular situation. I often think what my life would have been if I had been
living for the Lord and obeying Him in these times in my life. There is
absolutely no doubt it would have been a world of difference.
I told my daughter, “Why don’t you be nice to Ms Green,” I said, “try to help
her in every way you can. There has to be something that we don’t know about
going on in her life. Maybe there is a problem or illness that is causing her to
be so irritable.”
A few weeks later Catie came home from school and she was bubbling over with
enthusiasm. I asked her what she was so happy about and she laughed and said,
“Mom you were right. I found out that Ms Green has a husband at home and she has
to go home at lunch time and take care of him,” she paused long enough to catch
her breath, “and he’s sick. Ms Green has to take care of him all the time.
That’s why she is so crabby.”
I’m sure Ms Green loved her husband and was very concerned about him. She was
not crabby because she had to take care of him, rather because he was so ill and
she cared for him.
Of course, not realizing her circumstances we were hasty in jumping to
conclusions. In her situation, I too would have been “crabby”. The Lord knew
however.
Much later, I was visiting a friend who had become friends with Ms Green, due to
some organization which they both belonged to. Ms Green’s husband passed away
some time after this incident and the two of them, my friend Lil and Ms Green
went on a trip to the Holy Land together and they were very good friends for
many years. She often spoke to Lil of this incident involving my daughter Catie.
She spoke very kindly about Catie.
My daughter was a different little girl after that incident. She was very
content to stay in Ms Green’s class. When the school picnic was held at the city
park, I met Ms. Green and we talked. “You have the sweetest little girl,” she
exclaimed. “She is such a help to me.”
From that time on there was no more problem with Ms Green.
I have found many times when an individual is difficult to be around; very
irritable and ill mannered, there is usually something bothering them, if one
just takes the time and has enough compassion to care. That’s what makes the
difference many times in how we get along with people.
The lesson to be learned here is, have compassion and show people you care. When
they know someone cares, they will be more amiable and friendly.
I Peter 5:7 Cast all your cares on Him for He careth for you.
Nell Berry louis_berry@bellsouth.net
Bio: Nell is a mother of four, grandmother of nine and great grandmother of two,
so far. She enjoys cooking for her family on special occasions, sewing,
crocheting and knitting as well as writing poems/song lyrics and short stories.
She and her husband of fifty-seven years until recently lived at Mark Twain Lake
in Missouri where he pursued his hobby of building furniture from wood. If it
can be built from wood, he can build it. He also loves to go fishing and his
passion is duck hunting and goose hunting. They have moved from their home state
of Missouri and now live in Alabama where they have joined their son, Nathan at
his request in his ministry. He is missions director for HeartCry Missionary
Society, under the auspices of First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals Alabama
where they now attend and love the Church. Nathan left a lucrative position in
medicine at the call of God on his life to join HeartCry.