Today, let’s focus on compassion. What is compassion? According to The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley – Compassion is “suffering together”. But why would suffering together be a gift? It is a feeling that arises when confronted with another’s suffering and a motivation to relieve that suffering” — what better gift to give someone than helping to alleviate their pain. The 30 Days of Christmas Giving is a way to focus on the things that really matter. It’s not about the mountains of toys under the tree or having the most decorated house on the block, but it’s about LOVE and COMPASSION.
Helping others when they are in need is the basis of compassion, and it is why we are here on earth. According to Christian beliefs, when we love others, we love Jesus – there is nothing higher than this.
According to science, Darwin says, “compassion and benevolence……. are an evolved part of human nature, rooted in our brain and biology, and ready to be cultivated for the greater good”. So let’s begin cultivating that greater good, and start adding some compassion to our lives every day.
As many of you know, I am a strong believer in faith and nature. God created everyone of us, in his likeness. Every organ and every cell has a purpose. According to a study at Princeton University, “compassion isn’t simply a fickle or irrational emotion, but rather an innate human response embedded into the folds of our brains”. But why did God create us, embedded with compassion? According to the 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
So begin comforting others in need because it’s what we were made to do.
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/compassion/definition
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_compassionate_instinct
Michele Leppard 