Empathy—It Begins With You
(inspired by Shannon McCoy’s Conquering a Critical Spirit devotional)
“…empathy is a way to build others up when they’re struggling, offering grace when they need it most. Proverbs 12:25 reminds us, “Anxiety in a person’s heart weighs him down, but a kind word cheers him up.”
I would imagine most of us believe we are fairly good when it comes to offering empathy to others. After all, we know how important it is to listen attentively and give others the space to express their deepest disappointments, hurts and wounds.
What I find most interesting is that we don’t offer that same level of grace and understanding to ourselves when we fall short, miss the mark or make mistakes. On the contrary, we tend to be very hard on ourselves and oftentimes we’re not aware that the “hardness” can unintentionally translate to others. We think we’re offering grace when in reality we may be offering judgement disguised as counsel. 
I submit to you that we can’t “effectively” and “sustainably” offer to others what we don’t first offer to ourselves. And don’t you deserve love and understanding? Release yourself from the criticisms your younger self embraced and to this day hold on to. Allow God to wrap you in His mercy, His grace and His love so you can wrap others in the same. It starts with you first!!
Love You All to Life! 
Jesus—Our Source and Sufficiency!
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