Day of Compassion

I began the day simply by getting up early and looking up the definition of compassion. Webster says it’s having sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. So I figured I’d just try to live faithfully today by the mantra my own kids have heard me say over and over during their childhoods and that’s, Be Nice! I made a list of people I would do something nice for, and for the rest of the day I would just let my compassion “happen.”  My list included babysitting for a friend, cleaning and organizing my husband’s office, making cookies for my sister-in-law (which I helped her eat), and taking my mother-in-law to coffee. It felt good giving of my time to help out friends and family and, in some cases, blessing them with time spent with me. I know that doesn’t sound very humble, but I have really been missing my mother-in-law and I know she’s been wanting to spend time with me, which hasn’t happened in  close to three years, so she was thrilled when I called to invite her to coffee. This was the most meaningful time spent in my day. Since her cancer diagnosis about six months ago, I really haven’t made an effort to spend time with her. This has obviously been a very difficult time for her, and seeing how happy I made her was the best part of this compassion assignment. Telling someone you love them and worry about them may be the most compassionate thing you can do.

I do consider myself to be a compassionate person, but not to the degree I’d like to be. I’m a nice person, I tithe to my local church each month, and I help in a soup kitchen during the holidays. But I don’t always put compassion into action daily like I should.  Today I just wanted to step up my game throughout the day when it came to treating others the way I want to be treated. For me, patience is a virtue; I’m at my most compassionate when I’m being patient with those around me. I tend to be agitated easily, so I was careful to only say nice things and use sincere compliments whenever I could.  I found that easy to do with constant reminders to myself throughout the day. I love to be nice. It’s easy. It was worthwhile spending a day being really nice to those around me.