Lent is happening too quickly this year. Daily devotional reading and attending a study group are helping make Lent a reflective, thoughtful time for me. Long gone are my attitudes of fast, abstinence and penance. More so these days, and interestingly discussed by others in the study group; are attempts to smile and greet strangers.

I look back over the past months and think how fortunate I am that I have friends who accept me as I am, a confused, pathetic human being at times but one who still strives to stand upright and proud of my humanity. I gained new insight into the woman at the well story this week, Jesus spoke to the woman her reality, and she responded by telling others of her new found reality. Indeed just as for her, countless others down through the centuries and today there is someone who truly knows us, carries us on eagles wings and holds us in the palm of his hand. Truly, there is no need to fear, but only to accept loves embrace. Hurrah!

I have pondered the following since December. hattip LS.

The Cost of Compassion

But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had
compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Luke 15:20.
Recommended Reading Genesis 45:14-15

The word sacrifice is the costliest word in the biblical lexicon, especially when it comes to the price God paid--allowing His Son to be sacrificed for our sins. Sacrifice means to offer up something of one's own--to relinquish ownership, to give it up for a higher purpose or calling.

But there is another word that has a high price attached to it, one that gets less attention than sacrifice.


The cost of compassion, while perhaps not as high as sacrifice, is nonetheless high--as all compassionate people can attest. Take the father of the prodigal son in Jesus' parable, for instance (Luke 15:11-32). When the rebellious son returned home after a period of profligate living, the father welcomed him home with compassion. What price did he pay for his compassion?

How about the sleepless nights that he agonized over the fate of his son?
Or the forgiveness he extended? Or the large sum of money that the son wasted in riotous living?

Compassion's price is the loss of whatever we could be doing for ourselves instead of spending ourselves on another. Keep your compassion account balanced, ready to spend when needed.

Compassion will cure more sins than condemnation. Henry Ward Beecher

attributed to Turning Point by David Jeremiah .