When I first saw this picture, I just stared at it for a while. I looked at the hearts - a symbol of love. I examined the hands - they are giving hands.
The giving of one's heart to someone else is the ultimate expression of love. It tells that person that we love them.
Of course, we don't really give our hearts to anyone. We would be killing ourselves if we actually did that. But sometimes our love for that person is so strong that, if they truly needed our heart, we would relinquish it. That's sacrificial love.
After my mother died several years ago, I was at a festival downtown. I was busy doing something. I wasn't really thinking about my mother's death at all. That's when the crowd parted and a friend of mine came walking towards me.
"Hi Bob! Long time, no see. What's new in your life?"
It wasn't long before I was telling my friend about the loss on my mom and getting all emotional as I did so. I hadn't really grieved for my mom until that very moment.
Recently, that same friend, who had comforted me simply by listening and giving me a hug, lost her own mother. I knew I HAD to go to her mother's viewing to express my condolences. AND to return the favor.
When I got to the church, I saw a group of people off to the side, talking with one another. I signed the guestbook and walked into the sanctuary. I didn't see my friend but began talking with her son and then with her husband who were both in the room.
Soon however, my friend came walking down the aisle towards me. Her entrance reminded me of that day we had talked about my mother's death. Only now the roles were reversed.
I was originally going to call this story 'Moccasins'. Why? Because of the old Native American proverb - Never judge another man until you have walked a mile in their moccasins. We don't really know what someone else is going through until we actually go through the same thing for ourselves.
The compassion we have for others comes from the heart. Some hearts are small. Others, like my friend's heart, have ample amounts of love to give - the abundance of the heart.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows." - 2 Corinthians 1:3-5
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