Skip to main content

Compassion

I read this post on my friend's blog and asked her if I could repost it here. Note, it has been edited for length and clarity.

One Sunday an adorable 12-year-old boy was passing the sacrament for the first time, and I happened to be sitting in his line of duty. I have long since forgotten exactly what happened (and which new, adorable deacon it was), but that new, adorable deacon made some silly mistake, some noticeable breach of “protocol,” in passing the sacrament to me. My heart went out to him in complete and immediate forgiveness. I instantly excused his mistake, thinking, “It’s okay. He’s never done this before.”

As my heart turned back to its repentant self-reflection, I realized that perhaps the Savior looks on us that way sometimes.

“It’s okay. You’ve never done this before.”

Never tried to get through sacrament meeting (or life) with three little kids while pregnant before. Never had this or that calling before. Never tried to x while also dealing with y before.

Do we show ourselves a gentle heart ("Lord, I Would Follow Thee," Hymn #220)? Are we harsh and unforgiving with ourselves? Whatever we struggle with, whether it’s new or intimidating or scary or just plain hard, I am confident that the Lord is reaching out to us, to encourage and understand us, even when we feel no one can. We can be kind to ourselves and understand that we’ve “never done this before” and it’s okay.

It also struck me how important it is to forgive each other freely and completely. We should reach out with the same understanding and compassion we hope to receive from the Lord. There’s no place in Zion – and certainly not in our families – for fault-finding, nitpicking, or bitterness. There’s always more going on than meets the eye. Let’s all cut ourselves a little slack as we move, and help each other move, onward and upward.

Challenge: Have compassion on yourself next time you make a mistake.

Comments

Mrs.Smith said…
You did a great job editing. I should have you "proofread" all my posts! :)
Anonymous said…
this commentary on compassion reminds me why I love you so much-DAD
Anonymous said…
Yes, sometimes we are hard on ourselves when we are not "perfect".
Mom

Popular posts from this blog

A Few Degrees

"I have learned that the difference between happiness and misery in individuals, in marriages, and families often comes down to an error of only a few degrees," said President Uchtdorf in General Conference April 2008 . To illustrate this point, he explained that if your course flying around the world were just one degree off, by the time you got back around, you would be 500 miles (800 km) off course. It almost seems unfair that a small mistake can have such a negatively dramatic effect on our lives. However, it is not one small error that does this, but many "small errors and minor drifts away from the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is therefore of critical importance that we become self-disciplined enough to make early and decisive corrections to get back on the right track and not wait or hope that errors will somehow correct themselves. "The longer we delay corrective action, the larger the needed changes become, and the longer it takes to get back ...

Teaching Children Really Does Make a Difference

A talk from stake conference today reminded me of the testimony I gave in September and meant to post here. Here's the gist of it . Sometimes I wonder if teaching the gospel to my children is really making a difference, especially because I don't see the results right away. Scripture study and family home evening require a lot of effort, and most of the time is spent getting them to sit and pay attention and not fight with each other. It reminds me of when Elder Bednar shared similar thoughts  in a past conference: Sometimes Sister Bednar and I wondered if our efforts to do these spiritually essential things were worthwhile. Now and then verses of scripture were read amid outbursts such as “He’s touching me!” “Make him stop looking at me!” “Mom, he’s breathing my air!” Sincere prayers occasionally were interrupted with giggling and poking. And with active, rambunctious boys, family home evening lessons did not always produce high levels of edification. At times Sister Bed...

One but Not the Same

Zion --lds.org Moses 7:18 describes a Zion people as being of "one heart and one mind." And Mosiah 18:21 shares that when organizing the church, Alma commanded the people to "look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism." All this talk of oneness leads some people to believe that we are all supposed to be the same in thought and personality. That belief can scare away people from accepting the gospel. President Uchtdorf set the record straight in his talk during the priesthood session of the April 2013 General Conference: But while the Atonement is meant to help us all become more like Christ, it is not meant to make us all the same. Sometimes we confuse differences in personality with sin. We can even make the mistake of thinking that because someone is different from us, it must mean they are not pleasing to God. This line of thinking leads some to believe that the Church wants to create every member from a single mold—that each one...