Compassion

My oldest daughter turned 20 in June.

She was born on a Tuesday at 6:01 am. I really had no idea how my life would change. I hadn't known if she was a boy or a girl until the doctor announced it in the room...a girl. I then had the incredible task of giving this little person a name she would have for the rest of her life on earth....I named her Megan. The day she was born was the day I fell in love for the first time...I fell in love with this little baby that was mine.

On Tuesday of this week, the little baby I fell in love with came through the front door at 11:30 pm. When I greeted her at the door, I could read her face and it said unhappy. She had just driven home from her boyfriend's house not far from our house. I asked her what was wrong...not having time in my heart to discern what it could even be. As soon as I asked, she began to cry and in the next few minutes I was brought back to that moment on June 6th when I fell in love with her for the first time...

Hang on with me here for a sec to get the fullness of the story...it's not very long and maybe your heart won't feel like mine did...but maybe it will.

Megan said..."I hit a cat with my car. It just ran in front of me and I hit it." I said, "It was an accident. Those things happen and sometimes we just can't avoid them. It was dark and I am sure the cat was running fast." And here was her response that instantly melted my heart. She said, "But it was somebodies cat. Somebody will have to see it. It was somebodies cat." She was crying because she knew that someone might be heart broken. She was crying because she could imagine what they might feel like when they drove down their street and saw their cat on the side of the road. She was crying because she wondered if a parent was going to have to break the news to their child that their cat had died. My heart breaks right now thinking about her compassion. Who knows, the cat could have been a stray and didn't even have a home...but that didn't matter to Megan. "It was somebodies cat".

Can you imagine the way our God feels about us when he sees us hurting or sad or dying inside...He says, "that's my child". When we feel alone He says, "You belong to me...you are somebodies child...(okay I want to make a joke at this serious moment and say He says, "that's my cat"...I just had to get that out of my system!)...We are his. He loves us with a deep compassion and he longs for us to know that we are His. He wants us to love others. When we see someone hurting, sad, lonely, in need, dying, spiritually and emotionally dead...he wants us to say..."That is God's child". And He wants us to look at the world with a love and compassion and knowledge that everyone regardless of what is going on in their lives....is God's Child. They belong to Somebody...and that Somebody is God.

Thank you to my sweet daughter for reminding me how to have such compassion. Your heart is so sweet and big and not only are you God's child...you are my child.

Teresa