Accepting People Where They Are At

“Every new moment that arises in your life can now be a point of choice. . .in which you can choose to treat yourself and others with Compassion rather than Judgment.” –David Harp

When a meeting was starting a few days ago, a woman who seemed a little disoriented/unclear/disheveled approached me and asked in a loud whisper, “What’s the topic??” I had just arrived late after driving in traffic, and immediately felt annoyed. I impatiently told her, “I don’t know. I think it’s…(insert topic here)”. I then tried to avoid further eye contact because I didn’t want to be bothered.

A few moments later, a friend of mine got up from her seat to help the woman get seated. Her kindness immediately made me feel ashamed. The woman shared later in the meeting, and had some really insightful things to say…and I felt like a total douche.

Sometimes I have a lot of compassion for people who are different than me, and this was not one of my best moments. What I’ve learned about compassion, kindness and acceptance is that they feel good.

I am also learning to accept where people are at in their life journey. When people I know are doing crazy things, or behavior that I think is unacceptable, I *really* want to call them on it. I learned that this is not as helpful as I’d like to think. What is more consistently helpful is listening to someone and asking if they want feedback. If they don’t, I keep my mouth shut and trust their process.

After all, either God is everything or He is nothing. I know He is everything, and I know He has my friends in His hands just like He has me in His hands.