Empathy is Not Enabling

I used to be the most hardened and unforgiving person walking the face of the earth. But after I have accepted the mercy and grace that God bestowed on me, I can take a lot more crap now. But one thing that would still get my scales stand to attention, is a person who has no compassion on another persons weakness(es). You know, the kind who thinks he/she will never fall.

I can not say this enough: You can not deny other peoples' reality, you can only build on it. There are people who just can't let go of whatever it is that's keeping them in bondage. Some people (men or women) can not let go of bitterness or unforgiveness. Some, continually feels unloved, unaccepted, lonely and insecure. When I meet this kind of people, I don't tell them "snap out of it, move on already." Of course, I think it. In my mind, that's what I would like to tell them, but I don't say it because most likely they've heard that already. They already know the answer to their questions, they already know what to do. To empathize or listen to another person rant and rave about how justified they are in staying in their cesspool does not mean that you agree that it's the best place to be, it simply affirms that you care about her or him.

So today, let's put compassion in work clothes and let's start with ourselves. First, let us give ourselves permission to be not perfect, because only in acknowledging that we're not perfect that we can accept imperfection in others. When you see someone struggling with alcohol or drugs or lack of self-value, stop asking why they can't stop, instead, ask what made them fall in the first place. Because really, do you honestly think that they themselves believe that the cesspool they're in, is a cool place to be?