The Gift of Empathy

The Gift of Empathy

You don’t have to be a woman to say something meaningful about physical hardship, like that which comes with pregnancy.

You don’t have to be impoverished to offer support to those whose basic needs are in jeopardy.

You don’t have to be a pastor to gain wisdom about how the yearn for affirmation can impacts one’s preaching style.

Empathy is a unique gift that permits us to add value to another’s life even if we haven’t shared all the exact experiences or conditioning.

It doesn’t require us to literally live someone else’s life to feel where they are, grieve what they grieve, laugh at their joy.

But to live alongside someone well, to understand best we can, to know one fraction of what it might be to be pregnant, to have unmet needs, to desire approval like another, we do have to try.

Empathy, like any gift, is only useful when employed.