Empathy

Empathy

I read this recently, "Empathy is the capacity for and action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another without necessarily communicating those feelings, thoughts, and experience in an explicit manner."

The author continues, "The key words here are capacity and action. You must have room for empathy in your mind and heart before you can feel, respond to, and act upon it. And the aim of empathy is action more than words. Empathy is something you demonstrate in how you treat people more than something to be explained."

How often have we seen someone in a situation to which we can relate: a mom overwhelmed by the job of being a mother; a parent numbed by the truth that their child is not following God; a Christian who feels they are the only one who has failed the Lord; a man who is unemployed and feels he has let his family down; a friend frozen in their grief because of a terminal illness or the death of a precious loved one. Have you ever been in any of these dilemmas? If so, you can put your arm around that hurting person and say, "I've been where you are right now, but I made it out of that hole. Take my hand. We can walk together." That's empathy.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Marilyn Heavilin is a dear friend of the ministry of America's KESWICK. She and husband Glen, serve as counselors-in-residence each summer at America's KESWICK.