Well Spring of God's Love

Sympathy is a wonderful teacher of who you want to be in relation to others in your life, community and broader world. It is through sympathy that we find something to love and to hold about people who have suffered some challenging times.

The emotion that we express about differing events display the softness in our heart. We have feelings in support of sick children, abused animals, people with cancer or HIV, unemployed people, the homeless, victims of crime… Some of us have more stringent borders about who we have sympathy for. Others feel the heartaches of many.

Our level of emotion for others has everything to do with our own history with troubling times, emotional events of loved ones and how strong and healthy we feel. If we are feeling fragile and vulnerable, we may have less sympathy for others. Our goal in life is to find that base of faith so solid that we may send our heart to another without the fear of losing our own stability.

You may experience empathy, sympathy and objective understanding of someone’s hard times and take away life lessons that will serve your soul from that point on. It is good to learn more and have understanding about someone’s struggle. From there you may listen and offer comfort to them. When you walk away from that encounter you will pray for them and others impacted by this hardship. Then, you will learn the lesson intrinsic to that problem and ensure that you will not suffer the same consequences. And finally, you will share these lessons with children, family members, close friends, and anyone you feel may also need your newfound knowledge.

This is how many lessons are learned in life. We grow emotionally from a wide array of circumstances. We learn nothing by being harsh and judgmental. When our emotional doors are closed some valuable life experiences are lost to us.

Without sympathy we lose a lot of what makes us human and also what makes us Divine. It may be easier to block out the emotional pain and suffering of others but then we forgo some valuable experiences. Make an effort to feel someone’s emotional turmoil, support them, understand their plight, then regain your faith and strength to complete the learning process.

Suffering along with someone also will affect your knowledge and learning. Being objective will help you to remain mindful and supportive but not submit you to unecessary emotional destruction. You are more helpful to them if you are able to think, calculate, process and navigate issues. These are the traits of a healer.

Finding a gentle, loving balance between sympathy and overinvolvement is a valuable tool to success in life. You have that needed strength to gather knowledge and learning yet maintain your own emotional stability. Offer love, understanding, support and sympathy. Then gather the lessons and bolster your much needed soul growth. You may help more people by functioning from a place of faith and devotion to God. You may also better help yourself.