Scripture: Mark 9:22
But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.
Spiritual B3:
I know God has a sense of humor. When I was going through my experience, for the first time I had to tell people no and take a leave of absence from a lot of positions, people, and responsibilities in my life. I did it reluctantly, but I just didn’t have the mental capacity or bandwidth to do what I had done almost effortlessly in the past. For a while, I felt like a failure, a disappointment, and a quitter. As a Black man raised in America, you are taught that you can never show weakness, but even more, you can never expose the fragility of your humanity. But through meditation and prayer, I felt God say, “You are not Jesus or Jesus, Jr. so stop trying and heal.”
It’s easy to laugh now, but it was a painful lesson. I was reminded of the father’s words to Jesus, the one who could actually do anything, “If you can do anything”. God had me focus on that operative word “if”. God began to show me the importance of understanding the conditional nature of the word “If” and right then, my answer was no.
Up until the last 3 or 4 years I was pretty naïve about human nature and the goodness of people. I have not given up on people, but I have been hurt to my core by some of the people I sacrificed the most for. Those experiences caused a new piece of me to die inside after each incident. As a consequence, for the last two years I have watched my tendency to demonstrate compassion become far less frequent. I got so bad I even felt myself at times begin to judge people who needed my help because I was so angry and hurt and I was also overwhelmed by all the requests. But God had to work me through that and remind me that although I was called to demonstrate the compassion of Christ, I was not called to be Christ.
Through meditation I am coming back around and understanding that I can only do— what I can do— when I can do it. It was up to me to pray that God would show me the difference. The Jesus Jr. syndrome is not genuine compassion, and because it is not rooted in a place of compassion, it often will not be help at all, but probably hurt you and everyone connected to the situation.
CPR Kit for the Soul:
- Centering Theme: Center your mind, body, and spirit on the fact that you are not Jesus—so you can relieve yourself of that pressure. But meditate on the fact that we are called to have compassion and help where we can.
- Prayer Topic: Prayer equals power! That power comes without the pressure to find a solution on your own, and grants God the permission to do what He does best.
- Reflection Thought: Is this a situation where I can actively do something to affect change, or is this something I need to completely let go and let God handle?
T3 Prayer Starter:
- Dear Lord, please help me to overcome past hurts, pains, and disappointments; all of which make it difficult for me to show compassion and give of myself to help change situations.
- Lord, I thank You that through prayer I can do something about any situation! Prayer is not my passive response, but my first step toward accessing the power to change any situation.
- Lord, grant me the peace that is only discovered when I release the situation to you.
