(Alexander Smellie, "The Hour of Silence" 1899)
"Therefore, as GOD'S chosen people,
holy and dearly loved--put on a heart
of compassion, kindness, humility,
gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:12
"Put on a heart of compassion,"
says the wise apostle.
Some elect and gracious souls seem,
indeed, to have this compassionate
heart from the very outset of their lives.
Love is their vital breath and their native air.
It comes to them naturally and spontaneously . . .
as the bird sings simply because it must,
as the flower unfolds and cannot help itself,
as the fountain bubbles up irresistibly to the surface.
But how good it is for me, who have
no inborn faculty of loving, that I may
put on a heart of compassion!
I can do it by asking GOD, day after
day, to subdue my selfish, censorious,
critical, untender, evil heart!
I can do it by perpetually recollecting
CHRIST, who went about ever doing
good, and who has left me an example
that I should follow in HIS steps.
I can do it by begging, morning by
morning, the grace of the Paraclete,
the Comforter, the HOLY SPIRIT.
I can do it by the endeavor to put myself
in the place of others, and to comprehend
their difficulties and temptations.
I can do it by watching always for
opportunities of lifting up the bruised
reed and of fanning the smoking flax.
I can do it, as Robert Levett with his
single talent did, by "little unremembered
acts of kindness and of love."
Thus the heart of compassion may
grow and thrive, even within me!
Thus my harsh and proud and critical
spirit may spread its black wings and
fly away from me, never to return again!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
GraceGems has published John Newton's insightful 2 page helpful letter,
"By the grace of God I am what I am!"
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