Sameness

take a moment to study the two comments left this week regarding compassion:
1) Compassion is recognizing, encouraging and listening when no one else does
2) Compassion is praying to exchange - bear a child's sickness so that the child can be well.


so, recognition and martyrdom?  looking at the original meaning of martyr - you would come across the word witness.

i found that interesting.  that we have two seemingly independent thoughts and yet they harken back to the notion of being present and committed.  the friend to be with another, and the mother there with her child until the child returns to health.


i love wisdom.  even too - wisdom means deep understanding, realizing.


to be deeply understood?


to be realized - witnessed?


i kept my eyes from being flooded, but certainly i felt myself being swept into a moment.  many moons have passed since i last set in their seats, but i had a thought i can't be leading community without being fully exposed to a community - and so, i returned.


i was listening - singing to the opening song, Chris Tomlin's "Indescribable."  the colors of fall, the fragrance of spring - placing stars, giving the sun its source.  as i listened to the words i was struck by the compassion - the witness - the deep understanding, and that is nice - that God is so big He can handle the big things.  i think what caught me off guard was the last bit about seeing the depths of my heart and He loves me the same.


that He, the big that handles the big, sees into the depths of me *and* still he loves me the same. just prior i was aware of how overly exposed i felt.  i manage myself pretty well one - to - one, but you add a few more and a few more after that...


it wouldn't matter if it wasn't so important.  i know i can't manage my faith alone.  i know i need a community to temper my convictions and beliefs, but it is difficult to be known.


if you are like me, there have been times when trying to explain my heart was like ~ trying to lay map work for a newly discovered cave system.  impossible. 


sometimes we just feel so deeply about something and yet from where the emotions spring is unintelligible.  emotions just are at times, unexplainable - indescribable.


compassion is being witness - is being present and willing for the exchange.  you're sad - i'm sad with you.  you're blessed - i'm blessed with you.  


at glance, mirrored - the same.  i challenge to say there is more, for where there was sadness, so too was there loneliness & isolation, by adding one there is now accompaniment.  


where there was a blessing, there was opportunity for it to be missed, passed over, but when there is another - the other offers sanction, validation.  


the magic of this facet, this face of compassion is by not changing anything, in fact~ by being the same, everything is different.  it is the art of availability, no real action required.






Lord - keep with me and i with You, make me strong and wise to where I am weak.  to be merely in Your presence, quiet and available - i am changed by Your sameness.