Sympathy's Transformation

"It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees."    Psalm 119:71

The word "compassion" has been popping up everywhere I turn lately.  From devotions I've read, to my Sunday School lesson, and then my favorite was getting to share the meaning of the word with my children at a funeral service recently. 

My son wondered why I was on the hunt for tissues prior to the service since I wasn't close to the person who had passed away.  I was then able to explain to him that once you've experienced sorrow and grief firsthand, your heart is able to feel compassion for people who are hurting, even if you don't know them very well.  This is what I've always called sympathy transformed into empathy.

If you've ever wondered what the difference between sympathy and empathy is, here's a very simple explanation.  Sympathy is the desire to share in someone's pain.  Empathy is the desire to share in their pain because you've been through what they are going through.  Empathy is being able to clearly identify with someone's sorrow, grief, or affliction. 

Both sentiments can produce compassion in your heart, but from my personal experience, compassion is more naturally produced following your own personal pain.  Compassion is when you have feelings of sympathy or empathy, accompanied by the desire to alleviate someone's pain.  When you have experienced affliction, you tend to be more capable of feeling compassion towards people who are walking down a path that you have previously strolled.

The psalmist says that the afflictions he experienced in his life were worth going through because they provided him an education in the ways of the Lord.  I can't help but think that one of the lessons he learned through his afflictions was one of compassion.  If we allow Him, God can use every trial we go through to teach us, mold us, or equip us to be used by Him.

• If you've lost a spouse, parent, or child, you can be used to very appropriately minister to someone who is grieving over the passing of their loved one.
• If you've experienced cancer, a car accident, or a house fire, you now have empathy towards someone who goes through that trial.
• If you've gone through a divorce or dealt with a prodigal child, God has equipped you to reach out to those who are taking their first steps on that journey.

Whatever the situation was that transformed your sympathy into empathy, you have the opportunity to extend first hand compassion.  Your trials do not have to be for naught. Let something good come out of something bad.

For me, the death of an aunt and the loss of a baby provided me with an education that I could have never learned in any classroom on the planet.  I've better learned what to say, what not to say, and when to say nothing at all because tears are more appreciated than words.

Have you had an unfortunate, yet meaningful lesson in the area of compassion?  What trials have you gone through so that you can be used in the ministry of compassion for others?  Have you taken the opportunity to thank God for the valleys that He's brought you through and what He taught you along the way?

Never let a trial go to waste.