Do you know that when things are going well and life is going well, there are phases in life when you can hardly save yourself from friends. You get called and invited so often that you sometimes wish you had quieter times. Some of these friendships are deep and we feel a really deep emotional connection with these people. Others are rather superficial and sometimes almost too shallow for us. And occasionally the intensive contact with other people is almost a burden for us.
But as soon as you feel bad, these contacts come to an almost complete standstill. Why is that? Does that have to do with the fact that our fellow human beings have trouble sympathizing? Or is that just because you don't feel like listening to the whining of others over and over again? And how does the person in need feel?
I found two places in the Bible, among many others, on this subject:
Praised be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we may also comfort those in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted From God.
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Romans 12:15
So this is about compassion. Without having felt pain ourselves, it is difficult for us to show compassion to others. So the suffering we feel does something to us. To a certain extent, it makes us sensitive to the suffering of others. When we have suffered ourselves, it is easier for us to empathize with the suffering of others.
But why do we experience in times of our own need and suffering that people who are close to us turn away from us?
I know from my own experience that it is sometimes difficult to listen to someone who is suffering. You very quickly get the feeling that people are just "moaning". And this whining that we then have to listen to lets us distance ourselves a bit. Because the worries and needs that we listen to always have an impact on ourselves.
And since suffering, whatever it is, is a part of our own lives and we hate to remember it, we keep our distance.
But right now there is certainly one of your friends who will comfort you Undine friendship shows its true value when someone is in need and could use your encouragement.
True friendship shows itself when you suffer. Maybe you're sitting down and wondering who you haven't called in a while. Consider whether there is one among your friends that you could extend with your compassion right now.
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