"Compassion"
Posted: Saturday, October 22, 2011
by revruc1
Sugarwood Christian Community Church
Compassion
This is an analogy/illustration I have been using for years. I do not know where it derived from. I heard other ministers in the past use it. It is a “Compassion” of a person towards another that gave them hope and determination. Love does matter and it can do wonders for those whom it is counted to be so towards.
Little Ted Stallard undoubtedly qualifies as the one of "the least." Turned off by school, and very sloppy in appearance. One of those students the teachers just dreads seeing coming through the classroom door. Expressionless. Unattractive. Nasty. Horrible. Deadpan. Even his teacher, Miss Thompson, enjoyed bearing down her red pen -- as she placed Xs beside his many wrong answers. If only she had studied his records more carefully.
They read:
1st grade: Ted shows promise with his work and attitude, but (has) poor home situation.
2nd grade: Ted could do better. His mother is seriously ill. He receives very little help from home.
3rd grade: Ted is a good boy but too serious. He is a slow learner. His mother died this year.
4th grade: Ted is very slow, but well behaved. His father shows no interest in him whatsoever.
Christmas arrived and the children piled ornately wrapped gifts on their teacher's desk. Ted brought one too. It was wrapped in brown paper and was held together with Scotch Tape. Miss Thompson opened each gift, as the children crowded around to watch. Out of Ted's package fell a gaudy and loud rhinestone bracelet, with half of the stones missing, and a bottle of cheap perfume? The children began to laugh at Teddy. But she silenced them by splashing some of the perfume on her wrist, and letting them smell it. She put the bracelet on too.
At the end of the day, and the other children had left, Ted came by the teacher's desk and said, "Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother. And the bracelet looks real pretty on you, too. I'm glad you like my presents." He left. Miss Thompson got down on her knees and asked God to forgive her and to change her attitude towards little Teddy.
The next day, Miss Thompson being a reformed teacher, committed to loving each one of the kids, especially the slow ones, and she greeted all the children, especially little Teddy. Surprisingly -- or maybe, not surprisingly, Ted began to show great improvement. He actually caught up with most of the students and even passed a few tests. Finally, Teddy finished High School.
Time came and went by. Miss Thompson heard nothing from Teddy for a long time.
Then, one day, she received this note:
Dear Miss Thompson,
I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my class.
Love, Ted.
Four years later, another note arrived:
Dear Miss Thompson,
They just told me I would be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it.
Love, Ted.
Four years later, another note:
Dear Miss Thompson,
As of today, I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month, the 27th to be exact. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; Dad died last year.
Miss Thompson attended that wedding, and sat where Ted's mother would have sat. The compassion, kindness, and consideration she had shown that young man entitled her, or unconstrained her to that privilege.
Let us, you and me, have some real courage, and start giving to "one of the least." He/they may become a Ted Stallard.
Even if that doesn't happen, we will have been faithful to the One who has always treated us -- as unworthy as we were/are -- like very special people. Let God in man work through man to get to man. Remember? Do not we always say, “Christ is in us?” Or to some, do you think God is sitting up in the sky? When the Scriptures speak of the clouds, it is talking about the clouds of our confusion. Those are the clouds He will be coming through. When He comes to us, He comes through the clouds of our confusion. Without any fanfare, we have become a confused people.
Dr Clarence Rucker, Jr Thee Bishop
www.sugarwoodchristiancenterintl.org
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Your article is so moving. I felt heartbroken at Ted's early experiences of rejection and not being heard, seen, or loved. But how wonderful that Miss Thompson became aware of herself and changed. Reading of how she gave that child the love he so needed and deserved - and of what a difference it made to him - has totally made my day. Thank you! Yes, love changes everything.I am very appreciative and glad you enjoyed Sis Jenn.
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