Erring on the side of
Compassion
2/17/2016
(Katie Gauger)
A well-seasoned Bishop was in a quandary on an issue he had
with regard to members in his ward. He
met with his Stake President and asked this question. How do I know if what we have done is enough,
too much, or on the other end of the spectrum, too little? Just how much service
is enough?
The very wise and humble Stake President looked into the
Bishops eyes, and said, “Bishop, I would err on the side of compassion.” That was all the council he gave, and actually
that was more than enough.
There are times in our lives as Visiting Teachers when we
too wonder how much is enough, with regard to the service we give as sisters. Have we gone overboard, and worn ourselves
out, wondering if you can keep up the standard you have set for yourself? Have we looked away and thought that someone
else will pick up our slack, because we simply can’t do it with everything we
have going on in our own busy lives? Maybe are we more concerned that we have
not done enough, and should be doing more, or at least doing something?
Everyone at one time of another, goes through this self-evaluation
process , monitoring our own progression in all aspects of our life. It is a good thing and helps us to remember
why God sent us on this earth, in this imperfect state. We are working out our
own salvation, and with each little step forward, we become that much closer to
Him. A word of caution would be that we need not be so hard on ourselves, if we
aren’t there yet or are struggling just to keep afloat some days. Sometimes life and responsibilities are just
plain too hard, but, the key to remember is that if we are moving forward, not
backwards, that is exactly where Heavenly Father wants us to be.
With all the commitments we make in life, how can we commit
ourselves to do Visiting Teaching? How
can we know if we are doing what we need to, as a Visiting Teacher? Getting back to the quote from the Stake
President I mentioned earlier …. When a question arises like… It’s the end of
the month, and I haven’t done my Visiting Teaching and I don’t have any time to
squeeze it in… should I just not go?
Think of the quote: “Err on the side of compassion,” and I believe that
you will know exactly what to do, how to do it, and end up feeling good about
your solution. When we do, we don’t have
to go back and look at ourselves, feel guilty, feel bad for not doing anything
or more, because we did what we could compassionately. We did what the Savior would have done and
did when he was on the earth. Jesus
always erred on the side of compassion, throughout His entire ministry. I am
pretty sure when He was busy helping someone in one town, and about doing His
Fathers work, it wasn’t always convenient for Him. Jesus had people stopping him in the streets,
needing his help and what did he do? Jesus
Christ erred on the side of compassion. I
would bet he didn’t think about how inconvenient it was to walk many more miles
in sandaled feet, on dusty unpaved roads to heal the sick, feed the 5,000 or
cleanse the lepers. Jesus simply erred
on the side of compassion.
In the March 1997 Ensign, there is an article or story under the
heading, “Feeding His Sheep.” The story is called “Reaching out with love. ” Beginning
with the 8th paragraph, it tells about how after a woman’s family
had moved to England, tragedy struck.
The author tells about the drowning accident of her own 11 month old
son. She was grief stricken beyond description and was in a state of shock. The
story proceeds, with phone calls and visits from her Visiting Teacher, Joan
Davis.
Every day Joan would ride her bike up a hill to a payphone
booth, because she didn’t have a phone of her own, and call this woman. If her voice sounded despondent, Joan would
ride her bike another 5 hilly miles to her home and spend her day cooking,
cleaning, and tending the children of the grief stricken woman. These visits went on for months. It wasn’t
until months later, that this woman realized the sacrifice that Joan Davis had made
for her, and in spite of Joan’s own personal heartaches and sacrifices, she
reached out with love for her. What a wonderful example of erring on the side
of compassion!
The second great commandment that God gave to all of us is
to love our neighbor, and it is my prayer that we can do so, in the best way
that we can for all those who are in need of our service. I firmly believe that what we do for others,
the Lord is mindful of, and accepts our service, how much or how little we can
give, with gratitude and love. May we be
mindful of erring on the side of compassion as we serve those we Visit teach.
