Compassion-click on the following:

http://www.willienelson.com/nm/publish/news_164.html

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perserveres" 1 Cor. 13:4-7.

Remember in Bible school when your teacher would have you replace all the "love"s in that verse with your name? "Tiffany is patient, Tiffany is kind. Tiffany does not envy, she does not boast, she is not proud. . ." The point of that exercise was to remind us, even as children, that love is more than a feeling. "Love is a verb," as the trite saying goes.

That's easy for me to forget. Love isn't just the mushy feeling we get for our spouses, children, or pizza. (Side note: I always thought the great error of the English language was only having one word for love that varies in applicability from pizza to passion. Other languages, like Greek, saw the obvious need for different words). Love is choosing to act lovingly to my two year old when he throws his food on the floor, or my husband, even when he says, "The house looks clean to me-what do you mean?" Yes, love is a verb.

That's why, as I've gotten older and studied world religions, I've come to really appreciate the Buddhist ideal of compassion. If we can say, "The gospel in a word is love," they can say, and the Dalai Lama has made millions in book sales saying, "Buddhism- in a word- is compassion."

Maybe it's because love is such an overused word, but compassion speaks action to me. Love denotes a feeling that may or may not have my stomach twiterpated, spurring me to action. So, when I see that homeless man, that misbehaving child, that grieving widow, the lonely woman with a lost soul, or other "neighbors" as Jesus categorizes them, I've stopped thinking about loving them. I found it too easy to say to myself, "Yep, I love them with the love of the Lord," and walk on. I've come to think, "have compassion on them," which forces me to continue, "by (insert appropriate verb here) them." It's more difficult to feign ignorance, and walk away from citizens of the world when compassion is guiding me.

Timmy sent me this picture via email a while back because he knew they are two of my favorite people: Willie Nelson and the Dalai Lama. You may be thinking, "What a combination!" but if you've listened to the later Willie stuff, and kept up with his social and environmental activities lately, you'd see they are more alike than you think. Apparently, he also cares a lot about copyright infringements because I can't copy and paste the above mentioned picture onto this blog. You have to click on the link at the top, and view it on his website. Sorry. Blame activist Willie. Continuing on, both men also speak often of Compassion. By the way, if you haven't heard the Dalai Lama speak, read a book or watch a PBS special. His wisdom, wit, and grace are captivating. Listening to him I think, "if this is what a man who has given his life to seeking wisdom sounds like, just imagine what the Son of God sounded like!" No wonder thousands of people sat on the desert ground in the heat of middle eastern days straining to hear a not-so-attractive man teach.

So, love may do it for you- spur you to action. If so, hold to it, and love your world. If love seems to have gone a little stale lately, try compassion. It won't take you long to find someone who needs a little of it.

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive. Dalai Lama