Clothe Yourself with Compassion
Compassion and Well-Being
Reflection By Scott Stoner
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
- Colossians 3:12
Jesus calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves. His call is one of the two great commandments, to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
While Jesus does direct us, as his followers, to do this, we are wise to realize that not only is offering compassion to others central to our faith, but it is also foundational to our well-being.
The practice of compassion is both a fruit of, and a contributor to, well-being. To realize the truth of this, we need only think of a time when our hearts and emotions have been tense, anxious, angry, and constricted. When we feel like this, this is our smaller, ego-based self. And when our smaller self is dominant, it is important to recognize that our well-being is compromised and that we are not in a place to enhance another’s well-being.
Now think of a time when your larger, spiritual self was dominant. This is the self that responds from an expanded heart and soul. From this expanded place, as the words of the Scripture above say, we are able to clothe ourselves with “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” We experientially recognize that our well-being, as well as the well-being of others, is truly enhanced when living from this larger, spiritual space.
Just as we can decide how to dress ourselves each day in order to look our best, we can also decide to clothe ourselves with loving actions, including compassion, in order to respond from the heart.
Making it Personal: Read the verse from Colossians above and notice what speaks to you. Can you recognize when your smaller, ego-centered self is activated vs. when your larger, spiritual self is present? What might help you to make a choice to clothe yourself with more compassion each day?