Compassion Over Fear
I am old enough to remember when the AIDS crisis was a part of our everyday culture and the shocking, collective gasp “heard” around the world when Princess Diana hugged a child with AIDS! As we can attest to now, people were frightened then and overcome with fear about its infectious properties. We did not understand it then and in response to fear, were often uncaring, uncompassionate and even judgmental. Could we perhaps be repeating our failings as human beings today as we face the coronavirus? Are we so frightened that we are afraid to embrace and support loved ones? Are we so frightened that we judge one another for what we think they did or didn’t do in the name of “safety?” Are we so concerned about others “finding out” that we may have been exposed to a virus that we withhold our compassion? Are we so concerned about ourselves that we lose our humanity?
In this week of Thanksgiving 2020, my social media feed is loaded with memes of thankfulness and scripture; usually with a reverent candlelit background and beautifully scripted words. This is okay but let us ask God to help us “walk the walk” and not just give lip service to our thankfulness. God requires us to love others – unconditionally. It is easy to love and show compassion toward those who love us but what about those who disagree with us? What about those who have a virus that scares us? What about allowing fear and hate to rule our hearts? Let me assure you, fear is not far from hate. These are tough questions, but we need to ask them of ourselves. Indeed, there is scripture covering these very issues. “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7) and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). God is very clear about how and whom we should love. And fear is not of God at all.
I believe that if we fear - this virus and our fellow neighbor – we cannot truly have compassion. While we are limited in our humanness and DO feel fear, our goals should be to overcome it with God’s help. We need God. We need each other. It is neither healthy nor beneficial to fear each other. Showing compassion toward others trumps fear altogether. It loses its power. Feelings are just that – feelings. If we feel fear, we must show compassion anyway. Joyce Meyers wrote an entire book on this subject. She states, “Do it afraid.”
We must live. It is already vastly studied that human touch and kindness help heal. Just like during the AIDS epidemic, we can overcome our fears now by demonstrating true thankfulness and kindness toward others without reducing it to a meaningless meme on social media. My family has personally been through several tragedies and hardships in the past few weeks. I am forever grateful to those who have reached out to me and my family. “Lord, let me take a lesson from You and do the same for others.” This is what true Thanksgiving is about.
Tonya Noren
November 21, 2020