Compassion in all things.

Compassion - a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

If there is one thing that I want my children to learn in this lifetime, it is compassion for others.  Compassion has been heavy on my heart for a while now.  That word, feeling, emotion, act is so important to everything else in our lives.  It sets us apart from those that don't have it in every way.  You can love someone enough to have compassion for them, you can be mad at someone and have compassion for them, you can not even know someone and feel compassion for them.  Through compassion, we find forgiveness for others and ourselves. 

That led me to this - you must first have compassion for yourself.  You deserve it as much as anyone else.  If you can't feel it for yourself in your own time of need, how do you ever alleviate suffering and how can you ever attempt to help anyone else?  Compassion tells us to love ourselves and care about ourselves in the same way that we would love or care for someone else. 

I've come to a place where I finally felt compassion for my circumstances and it made me realize how much more I feel for the people around me.  Thanks to all of you that compassionately loved me and cared for me over the last 6 months.

This post is for one of my good friends.  You deserve compassion as much as anyone else.  Accept that your life is equally as important.  You are not destined to live a life without compassion for your circumstances.  Remember, the biggest giver of compassion, is Him.

Information about Familial Adenomatous Polyposis at: http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition=familialadenomatouspolyposis