Compassion

I don’t talk about church stuff on my blog much, but I think this story is just too great not to share.

Bubba had to catch a plane yesterday at the same time our church service starts, so we went to an earlier one yesterday. One of the speakers (our church has members of the congregation give talks on Sundays, rather than having a paid preacher) is a judge. He spoke about serving the poor and needy. After he sat down, instead of ending the meeting like we expected, the man presiding over the meeting took a few minutes to share something with us.

He wanted us to know that this judge was not teaching us a principle that he doesn’t practice; he shared this with us:

A couple years ago, a woman appeared in court before this judge. She was charged with a case of animal at large, a minor charge, but nonetheless one she was guilty of. The judge knew the woman had very little money, and was missing work to be in court that day. At the same time, he knew she was guilty and he couldn’t just let her off because she was poor. Being a just judge, he fined her the appropriate amount.

This woman had never been in trouble with the law before, and had already taken care of the issue she was in court for. So, when the judge finished for the day, he went to the bank and withdrew money from his personal account. He found the woman and gave her the money she needed to pay her fine.

This judge’s compassion helped a woman who was desperate and did not have the means to take care of her fine on her own. I found the story to be absolutely amazing; I hope I will remember it and that it will help me to be more compassionate towards others.

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