There are some things that we just cannot measure. As advanced as the field of medicine is there is not yet a machine that can measure pain. When trying to discern the level of pain a patient is asked to point to one of a series of “smiley faces”. Even if there was such a machine, it could not determine a person’s ability, physically or mentally, to handled levels of pain. If, for instance, there was a measuring tool would a nurse be justified in telling me “Man up, Mr. Barber. The machine says your pain is only measuring a 5. You shouldn’t be curled up in a fetal position and crying”? No. The nurse would manage my personal level of pain.

 

     My point is that people handle things differently; they process things emotionally different. Yet we too often judge people by our own standards. Instead of judging how some should feel according to how we may or may not have felt in a similar situation (or how we think we would feel) we should try to help them manage their situation. Could there be a time where we try to get that person to recognize that he or she should be handling the situation differently? Of Course. But that will come in the midst of ministry after we know more and understand better. It shouldn’t be our first step/reaction.

 

     That is not saying that there will not be times when a person’s reaction to a situation is blatantly and obviously wrong (“Mr. Barber, it’s a paper cut. I will not give you morphine.”). But we should always look deeper into a situation before we judge someone’s reaction. That is what compassion does.

 

Say good things about your Savior and about your church.

Bro. Tony