Compassion or Agenda
i would not say i am the most compassionate person in the world. I love people especially those i have a relationship with. i love to hear their stories and reveal in their presence. i hurt when they hurt because i don't like to see those i love and care for in pain. i cry at sappy movies or dopey card commercials. hallmark gets me every time. i tear up when i see a newborn baby (but not a dog-sorry never gonna be an animal lover:) However that is the limit of things that make me get emotional. I don't have compassion for things i am not connected to or aren't a media example of a imperfect world.
When i hear a prayer request or see a sad heart wrenching moment on the news, i take a second and go how sad. Then i move on. i would like to say that i spend time feeling empathy or pain for those people or situations but i don't. i keep my distance. i never can relate it to my life.
one of the greatest characteristics of Jesus was his compassion for people. there are numerous times recorded in scripture where Christ's heart goes out to the people or the situation. but he doesn't pause and go aww too bad and move on. he goes up to that person and touches them. He gets closer to those people in pain. It wasn't part of his agenda it was just who he was.
what about me? am i compassionate about the people I want to serve? or do i just consider them part of my daily checklist? you guys all know that i desperately want to be able to go back overseas and serve. but do i have true compassion for the people in France or are they part of my agenda? are they a means to end for me? being a missionary means i go back to France. Is that my motivation or do i truly have compassion for the French people? i don't ever want my own personal agenda affect who i have compassion for. I want to emulate Christ's compassion for people in everything i do. I should start doing that at home. if i can have compassion for the people i see daily than it is sincere. maybe over time i will become an authentic compassionate person.
Top Ten
Ten Things I can't wait to do after the cast comes off and crutches go away....
1. bend my ankle... i never knew how much i did that.
2. shave my leg...gross but so true.
3. paint my toenails...right now 9 are one color(purple) and 1 is a different color (pink) bc i can't get to that toe. opi charged up cherry and i have a date thursday night...i am gonna have super cute toes in about 24 hours.
4. carry a glass of water all by myself....carrying things on crutches not fun:) but i've learnned...
5. sleep in a comfortable position...self explanatory
6. take less than 10 minutes to walk up a flight of stairs...living upstairs in the house has not been fun.
7. go watch the new Batman movie....i have tended to avoid really crowded places while on crutches for two reasons...too many people and too many people wanting to know what i did:)
8. take a shower like a normal person and place both feet on the tub at the same time:)
9. go to the pool...before this started i was enjoying some amazing quality time laying out and working on a great tan. on saturday morning i plan to do just that:)
10. go to the library...i am quickly losing my nerd status. I haven't been able to check out a book in a month. It just hasn't been worth the effort:)
Less than 24 hours to go ladies and gents...
Crutch Time
Crutches are an interesting thing. For some reason they make everyone want to stop you and talk to you about what happened AND tell you about the time they were on the crutches. I do mean everyone wants to stop you. I haven't been to a single store or restaurant or doctor's office where someone hasn't stopped to say "oh my gosh, you poor thing. What happened?"
Don't get me wrong sometimes the attention is nice. I haven't had to open a door in public in at least three weeks (except at the branch I work atJ). Everyone wants to help for the most part. But I hate telling the story. It is not a good story. I wasn't sky diving or hiking or saving a child or getting hit by a car (Ann Marie your story is way betterJ). I wasn't trying to check out a cute boy or being goofy. I was walking. I didn't twist my ankle or fall in a hole. I was not drunk or unstable. I was standing at the drive thru window. Then it split. My second toe right down the middle. Yes it happened back in May and yes I am still broken:)
Of course then they need to tell me what happened to them. These are my favorites. They are the condensed versions of their stories. People really do over share sometimes!
1. I went down a wet slide backwards and broke my leg in 3 places.
2. I was dancing and had a little too much to drink and broke my ankle.
3. I was wasted and fell down a hill and broke my foot. (is there a theme hereJ)
4. I was showing off in front of this really cute boy and feel into the pool and broke my foot in 3 places.
5. I broke my hip (20 year old girl-never got the story:)
It amazes me that everyone wants to know what happened. I can honestly say that I have never approached anyone and asked them how they go hurt. I guess crutches makes me more approachable. I need to develop a better story though. But those 2 1/2 or 3-inch high heels were really cute. Too bad I am going to have to burn them when this is over:)
