Compassion

Maybe it is my age, maybe it is the season, or maybe it is how much stronger my relationship with God has become. Which ever the case the word compassion has been on my heart lately. Right now our church is doing a series on compassion {which usually ties in with money and tithing and I usually blank out during church} and my heart has been fully open to hearing the message and applying. I think so many of us go to church or Bible studies and we all come back learning so many different lessons, usually depending upon where you are in life at that moment. The past few months I have been shown so much compassion in such a way that it has moved me even more.

There are so many different ways of showing compassion; monetary, time, words, a simple smile. The world has turned into such a selfish "me-oriented" world and it is hard to get out of that mindset sometimes. It is hard to look and see how blessed we truly are when you are not content with what you have. Are you not content because you are comparing your worldly treasures with that of the world? Did you know that those treasures mean nothing in Heaven?

"The richest person in the world could die and go to Heaven only to live in poverty." {quote from Cam at church}.

God gives all of us so much. You just have to look and see your blessings. Below are a few ways that I am sure many of you reading this are blessed/rich. {examples taken from the recent service}

• You have extra money {savings, checking account, retirement funds, etc.}
• You can afford to overeat
• You have leftovers in your refrigerator
• You throw away food in your refrigerator to make room for more food
• You have a "house" for your car - when some people do not even have a house.
• You have so much stuff that instead of putting a car in the garage you have stuff

You may laugh or roll your eyes, but in other countries they do not have a need for a refrigerator because they work that day to eat that day. Then repeat.

If you have a combined income of $37,000 you are in the top 4% of earners in the world. Crazy, right? If you have a combined income of $45,000 you are in the top 1% of earners in the world.

I think this post was inspired from the church service, but also from all of the posts on Facebook complaining about taxes, money, "lazy people", etc. I know we work hard for our money and we want other people to work as well. I get that. It is sometimes defeating to see our paychecks dwindle from careless spending by the government or going to people like the lady on one of the viral videos stating that "someone needs to take care of {her} these children" {cue her pointing to the 12 children surrounding her}. We know there are people who abuse the system, but what about the children who are suffering? What about the family who has both parents laid-off and are working at jobs that can not put food on their table? Times are tough people and we have to help our fellow neighbor out.

Do I agree with the government doing things the way they are? Maybe not, but with how greedy our country has become do you think there would be as much help for those in need? Possibly. Maybe if we were not hand-cuffed by the government having money taken we would give on our own. That would take a lot of trust in mankind...and who can even speculate what that would result.

It is so tiring to see how entitled we have all become. How irresponsible we have been with our blessings. How greedy we can be.

There is so much more to this world that money. Yes, we need it to survive, but do you need that iPad, iTouch, iPhone, and all of the other little gadgets to survive? Probably not. Is it nice to have nice things? Maybe, but I cannot help but think about the poor family living in their car or the little child starving at school while your child complains about not getting the latest trend.

I guess the summary of this post is to be content and be compassionate. Chances are you are surrounded by so many nice things and you still want more. What good are "things" when you are only thinking about your life here on earth? You can't take them with you so why not show compassion to others? Why not take some of your riches and bless other people? Why not start today.