An Exercise of the Will

This is an impromptu post. I woke up today thinking about compassion. Many of us think we know what it is, but truthfully a lot of us have no clue. I'm included in that bunch by the way. I started reflecting on 1 Samuel 16:7..."Man looks at the outer appearance, but God sees the heart." Hmmm...How many times do I just look at the behavior of a person and never look at where it's coming from? A lot. Which in turn makes me a really unhappy person sometimes. I'm convinced that me focusing on someone's guiltiness makes me feel vindicated...makes me feel "rightly justified in my anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness. Plain and simple it gives me the right to be mad.But here's the hard truth... it doesn't give me the right. Don't get me wrong, we aren't to be doormats and tolerant of malicious and deviant behavior. However, there has to come a time and point in our lives where we exercise our will and move past our lack of compassion. To move past our obsession to make others guilty; Our obsession to be right.I'm suggesting that we move past our need to be justified and right into a happier place of contentment and peace in our lives. This is indeed an exercise of the will to focus on the "where" a person's behavior is coming from.Honestly, this exercise of compassion is more for you than them. I believe that if we practice this with people, our lives will be more full. We will grow as women and our relationships will be stronger than ever.Take the challenge today!