Category Archives: Tuesday’s Word

Tuesday’s Word: compassion

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compassion (n):  sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress
together with a desire to alleviate it

Compassion is more than feeling sorry for the victims of an earthquake.  It’s more than pity for sufferers of a disease of which you have no firsthand experience.  The sympathetic consciousness of another’s distress is key.

sympathy (n):  an affinity, association, or relationship between
persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects
the other

Compassion is relational.  It involves entering into another’s painful experience to the fullest extent you are able and living it with him, attempting to alleviate his distress.

alleviate (v):  to reduce the pain or trouble of something; to make
something less painful, difficult, or severe

 It’s important to notice that alleviating pain and distress is not synonymous with fixing or removing the source of the difficulty.  We may at times be called to alter circumstances that cause suffering, but often it is not within our power to do so, particularly in cases of physical or mental illness.  Compassion does not enable us to calm the storm; rather, it calls us to battle through the storm with the one who is in the midst of it.

 “If a man seems to himself to endure the horrors of
shipwreck, though he walks on dry land and breathes
clear air, the business of his friend is more likely to be
to accept those horrors as he feels them, carrying the
burden, than to explain that the burden cannot, as a
matter of fact, exist.”  ~ Charles Williams, Descent
Into Hell

Tuesday’s Word: silence

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silence (n):  the absence of sound or noise

 I never thought before about the distinction between sound and noise.  Sound, the dictionary says, is anything perceived by the sense of hearing, while noise denotes an unpleasant sound.

We can, if we try hard enough, find places of temporary escape from noise, but it’s virtually impossible to go anywhere completely devoid of sound.  Even as I write this in the sanctuary of my study, I hear the hum of the computer, the clicking of the keys as I type, the dull roar of a lawnmower a couple houses down, the varied sounds of cars and trucks on the street below and an airplane overhead.

Absolute physical silence may be an unattainable quality for most of us, but sometimes, through an alignment of long practice of prayer and sheer grace, we are blessed to find a spiritual inner silence that calms and sustains us.

 “Silence is that moment in which we not only stop the
discussion with others but also the inner discussions
with ourselves, in which we can breathe freely and
accept our identity as a gift…It is in this silence that
the Spirt of God can pray in us and continue its
creative work in us…” ~ Henri Nouwen

 “At the extremity of prayer words vanish, or rather the
silence-become-word surpasses all that can be uttered.
Prayer becomes the silence of Love…” ~ A.I. Okumura

Tuesday’s Word: hope

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hope (n):  a feeling of expectation and desire
for a certain thing to happen

It’s more than a passing fancy, more than a vague wish for something nice.  Hope, the real stuff, is full of desire, of deep, intense longing.  It’s founded on expectation, a firm belief that something will happen.  And it’s specific –  the desire and the expectation are focused on a particular object or outcome.

Hope can bide its time.  It can lie dormant for a season, buried deep, but it is always alive, always alert and watching for its moment to burst into blossom, into something visible and tangible and vibrant.

“Hope is a yearning rooted in reality, that pulls
us toward the radical biblical vision of a world
where truth and justice and  peace do prevail,
a time in which the knowledge of God will
cover the earth as the waters cover the sea…”
~ Katharine Paterson

Tuesday’s Word: presence

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presence (n):

(1) the state of existing, occurring, or being present in a place or thing;

(2) a person or thing that exists or is present in a place but is not seen

Presence is a vital concept for me these days, as I’m traveling through yet another season of waiting and uncertainty.  I am blessed to have a small circle of tried and trusted friends who walk with me.

One of these dear ones reminds me, over and over, of the value of being present now and here, of neither dwelling on the past nor speculating on the future.  Ann Voskamp, in her book One Thousand Gifts, eloquently describes the kind of presence my friend encourages me to practice:

‘Time is a relentless river.  It rages on, a respecter of no one.
And this, this is the only way to slow time:  when I fully enter time’s
swift current, enter into the current moment with the weight of all
my attention, I slow the torrent with the weight of me all here.’

Another treasured friend gave me the lovely gift of presence in a very tangible way last week.  I was facing, with great anxiety, an unavoidably necessary test.  I gave her enough information to have a sense of what was going on and confided my fear to her, and although she was in the middle of her work day half a continent away, she made herself available to me throughout the afternoon and evening.  Her presence, even in physical absence, calmed and upheld me.  This is surely something of what Tara Brach puts simply and profoundly:  ‘The deepest expression of love is paying attention.’

Tuesday’s Word: community

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community (n):  a unified body of individuals, as:  (a) people with
common interests living in a particular area; (b)  an interacting
population of various kinds of individuals in a common location;
(c)  a body of persons having a common history or common social,
economic, and political interests; (d)  common character

The word community is used in a lot of different contexts, more or less approximating one or another of the definitions given above.  The past week I’ve been hearing the word on the news a lot, as the reporters talk about which communities are being hit hardest by our unusually cold weather.  I think of my church as a community of the second type, one in which many people who may have little in common beyond a desire to attend services meet in a set location for a set purpose at set times.

What I consider true community is a blending of the remaining two meanings, a group of people who share not only an interest in a particular something, but also a commonality of attitude toward that something.  For example, I once attended a writing group.  Each of us was interested in creative writing, but I soon discovered that I had a very different focus and intent than any of the others.  To me, community is a circle in which I can feel comfortable sharing deep thoughts and feelings, without having to explain overmuch, knowing I will be loved and respected no matter what.

Community is so much more than living and working together
It is a bond of the heart that has no physical limitations.  Indeed
it is candles burning in different places of the world, all praying
the same silent prayer of friendship and love. ~ Henri Nouwen,
Sabbatical Journey

Yes, we are created in and for community, to be there, in love,
for one another.  But community cuts both ways:  when we reach
the limits of our own capacity to love, community means trusting
that someone else will be available to the person in need.
~ Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak

Tuesday’s Word: patience

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Patience (n):  (1) the capacity to accept or tolerate delay,
trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset; (2) the
capacity, habit, or fact of being patient.

Patient (adj): (1) able to remain calm and not become
annoyed when waiting for a long time or when dealing with
problems or difficult people; (2) done in a careful way over
a long period of time without hurrying

Patience is not, as many seem to believe, simply resignation, not an attitude of putting up with one’s circumstances because there’s no choice anyway.  That way lies despair.

Patience, I believe, is composed of elements of faith, trust, and hope.  It is founded on an understanding that Someone greater than myself is responsible for my life, that He is aware of my situation and walks through it with me, and that He is bringing me in His best timing to the place I truly belong.

‘Patience is not acquiescence, or perpetual placidity…
Patience must be rooted in an overarching confidence that
there is Someone in control of this universe, our world, and
our life…A patient person knows the shortness of time and
the length of eternity.’ ~ Lloyd John Ogilvie

Tuesday’s Word: humility

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humility (n):  a modest or low view of one’s own importance; the quality or state of being humble

humble (adj):  (1) not proud or haughty, not arrogant or assertive; (2) reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission

Looking just at the dictionary definitions, it’s not hard to see why so many people equate humility with putting themselves down, refusing to accept credit when it is due, keeping their sometimes brilliant ideas hidden away.

But we are blessed to have the thoughts of saints and scholars to expand and enlighten our understanding.  Here are some words which I find particularly helpful in shaping a balanced idea of humility:

“The virtue of humility consists in keeping oneself within one’s own bounds, not reaching out to things above one…” ~ St. Thomas Aquinas

“But humility is in reality the opposite of self-deprecation.  It is the grateful recognition that we are precious in God’s eyes and that all we are is pure gift.” ~ Henri Nouwen

“Humility is simply seeing ourselves for who and what we are – no more, no less.” ~ John Michael Talbot

Tuesday’s Word: encourage

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encourage (v):

  • to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope:  hearten
  • to attempt to persuade:  urge
  • to spur on:  stimulate
  • to give help or patronage to:  foster
  • to give support, confidence, or hope to

courage (n):

  • the ability to do something that frightens one:  bravery
  • strength in the face of pain or grief
  • mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty

I’ve been pondering over the word encourage for the past couple weeks: what it means, how it’s done. I find it telling that the heart of the word is heart: cor (Latin), cuore (Italian), couer (French).  The truest, best encouragement comes from one whose heart is in tune with your heart, one who knows what fears you face, what challenges daunt you, what pain you bear.

One who would encourage doesn’t say, “I encourage you to go out and overcome your obstacles (or do a great work) (or persevere through enormous difficulty), and let me know when you’ve done it.”  A true encourager opens his own heart and says, “Here is the reason we have for hope.  I see in you the promise of glory.  Let us walk together, sharing our bravery and our strength.”