Got Empathy?

I was scarfing up my favorite dish, "Love Veggies," one afternoon at The Magnolia Cafe in Austin, Texas (A must do for your bucket list!) when I noticed two young women being seated nearby.  The girls were all dressed in black.  They had tattoos, and piercings so numerous they would not have made it through the metal detectors at the airport!  One girl's hair was cut like a Mohawk and dyed lime green. The other had bright tangerine orange hair that looked like a small bowl had been placed on her head and everything below the rim of the bowl had been removed.  They had angry faces and not even the smallest glimmer of joy.

Trying not to stare, I began to rack my brain for an opening line so I could tell them about Jesus.  I received a new level of respect for the creative power of guys to "pick up" gals.  Nothing.  I played through all kinds of lines. They all sounded so canned.

"Lord, what is wrong with me? I can't think of anything to say that doesn't sound preachy or 'holier than thou'!"

I wasn't prepared for what He spoke to my heart.

"You have lost your first love"  

Tears welled up and I was devastated.  It was true.  I had become religious and was not looking at those women with His eyes of Love, but rather, I was judging them.  I had spent so many years living my entire life in the church, teaching, preaching, serving other Christians, I had lost touch with the world.  I did not have one ounce of empathy for those women, because I could in no way find myself in their shoes.  I practically ran out of the cafe, and sat in my truck outside bawling.  It was a day almost as intense as the day I gave my life to Jesus the first time.  Humility, remorse and gratitude poured out of me towards the Lord, for showing me the true state of my heart. I was home.  

Comprehension dawned: If I had had the Love in me, speaking to those women would have been easy and He would have given me the words; and further, the Love in me may have attracted them to Jesus.  When we walk in the Light as He is in the Light,  darkness has to flee.  When Love walks in, fear jumps out the window! 

I have never forgotten the lesson learned that day.  Now, when I find myself being judgmental or not able to empathize with others, I take a look at myself and do a "first love" check.  Love "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."

 ~ 1 Corinthians 13: 7-8a

Blessings, Anna Marie