Abba's Child is Compassionate

I am a serial book-starter-but-not finisher. I love to read, but once I get the gist of a book I move on to one of the dozen I generally have waiting in the wings.

I think I am currently reading a book I might actually finish. I am loving Abba's Child by Brennan Manning. I am only 80 pages in, but I had already dog-eared, underlined and starred so many pages and passages it looks like a used textbook. What a beautifully written, wonderful book!

I read a long passage today that I just have to share. If you own the book, it starts on page 71.
"My identity as Abba's child is...the core truth of my existence. How I treat my brothers and sisters from day to day...how I react to the sin-scarred wino in the street; how I respond to interruptions from people I dislike; how I deal with ordinary people in their ordinary unbelief on an ordinary day will speak the truth of who I am more poignantly than the pro-life sticker on the bumper of my car...This is the unceasing struggle of a lifetime. It is the long and painful process of becoming like Christ in the way I choose to think, speak and live each day."

In the middle of page 72, Manning continues,"The betrayals and infidelities in my life are too numerous to count. I still cling to the illusion that I must be morally impeccable, other people must be sinless, and the one I love must be without human weakness. But whenever I allow anything but tenderness and compassion to dictate my response to life--be it self-righteous anger, moralizing, defensiveness, the pressing need to change others, carping criticism, frustration at others' blindness, a sense of spiritual superiority, a gnawing hunger of vindication--I am alienated from my true self. My identity as Abba's child becomes ambiguous, tentative and confused. Our way of being in the world is the way of tenderness...The compassion of God in our hearts opens our eyes to the unique worth of each person."

Manning concludes this portion of the book with a quote from John Shea's book Starlight:
"The other is 'ourself;' and we must love him in his sin and we are loved in our sin."

I want to ingest this truth like a fine food. I want to let it simmer in my soul. Oh, how I desire to live out my true identity--as the beloved child of God. I long to live as one who was bought for a price. I aspire to model this for my children in a way that impresses upon them the truth of the Gospel. I especially hope to teach them the way of compassion. But, back here in the 'real world' this snappy, impatient Mommy has a LONG way to go.

Slowly, I am beginning to grasp this way of compassion. The more involved in social work/direct ministry I get with people in terrible cycles of poverty, abuse, drugs use, violence, homelessness--the more difficult it becomes to have broad judgments and generalizations. The more of their stories that I hear, the more my anger and judgment is replaced by sadness and compassion.

The people I encounter in my everyday, ordinary life are real people with complicated backgrounds. Each of us has a story--and few of them are straightforward. Our sinful choices are intertwined with the effects of the sin of others. We have all been victims and victimizers. We have all hurt and been hurt.

So, why don't we treat one another with more gentleness and compassion? Have we forgotten who we are?