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Compassion (as taught by President Lund)

As temple workers, we show up thirty minutes before our shift begins for preparation meeting (or "prayer meeting" as we mistakenly called it for over a year).  In the meeting, we are told who the coordinators are for the shift, how many patrons we are expecting, if there are any "own" endowments coming, and we identify first responders.  We also are shown a short training video on some aspect of temple service.  We say a prayer too :-)

Occasionally, we will get a personal spiritual thought from a member of the presidency (President Doot does it with the most regularity), but it's kind of rare.  This past week, however, President Lund shared a thought he had had, and it was one of those enlightening moments where I walked away thinking about what he had taught.

He shared a scripture in 3 Nephi 17.  Jesus had been teaching the multitude in the Americas for a while now and was preparing to leave to visit the lost ten tribes, but he looked around and saw the people in tears.

And he said unto them:  Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you.

He then stayed a while longer and had them bring people to him who were suffering with physical ailments because his bowels were filled with mercy.

President Lund then said something very profound:  compassion unlocks a special power.  When we look at others with compassion, miracles can happen both in our lives, and in the lives of others.

I thought about that, and I thought about some of the people in the past for whom I have felt no compassion.  It's so easy to get caught up in "she did this to me", or "that person offended me", or "why does that person do that stupid stuff?".  If only I would take a moment and look at that person with compassion, everything would change.

I guess it's a variant of what I have told the kids:  if only we knew everyone's stories, we would treat them much differently.

With Glo struggling with two very mean, very manipulative companions, I didn't have much advice for her (not having been a missionary myself).  However, President Lund's words rang loudly in my ears, and I challenged her to look at them with compassion and see if that changed things.

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