Living in Compassion

by Crystal Kelly

There are many opportunities to live out the compassion that Christ calls us to. We must never forget that we are also recipients of this very compassion. Compassion is defined as a sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it. Is this not a beautiful picture? Is this not the very thing we needed Christ to do for us as we were steeped in the blindness of sin where pain and despair ruled our lives? In answering these questions to ourselves should we not look out and see where we could exercise this kind of compassion in our world.

We do not always have to go looking to help in another country, although this is a good thing. There are many opportunities for compassion right in the arena of “your own backyard”. Compassion is an act that has lasting effects. It touches not only the person you have exercised it upon but it touches you in a way that you would never be able to imagine. Compassion can be displayed by reaching out to the new student, by being a friend to the one who has none, by counting yourself among the unpopular in the name of treating everyone equally.

As individuals we all have opportunities to leave lasting marks in the hearts and lives of those we encounter. We must choose if we will be the ones to float quietly along the way or the ones who will stand up and make the mark of compassion a trend to not only be admired but copied as well. You are a generation with the ability to make changes, to make impacts. You do not have to wait until you are a certain age, you can start now. You are the trendsetters. Live your life in a way where the actions of Christ are apart of your very fiber.