True Friends Adjust Their Emotions to Align With Those They Are With
Proverbs 24:17,18; Romans 12:15
Matching Your Behavior To The Highs & Lows of Those Around You Shows Love
Soul Food
Proverbs 24:17,18 (NIV)
“Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them.”
Romans 12:15 (NIV)
“Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep.”
Soul Search
Can you think of a time when you were inwardly (or maybe outwardly) happy that someone had suffered something bad?
Do you know why?
Have you considered what your reaction says about you?Why do you think you might be happy or even gloat over someone else’s calamity or affliction? Can you talk about it?
Can you think of a time when you were sad or disappointed that someone experienced something really good?
Is it something you can share?Can you dig down deep enough inside yourself to acknowledge and understand why you felt badly about someone else’s good fortune?
Can you put into words why it might be difficult for you to celebrate someone else’s success?
Soul Moves
Ask God to sensitize your heart – your “core” or soul – to what others are feeling and experiencing so that you can authentically and genuinely rejoice with them when they rejoice and be sad (“weep”) with them when they are sad.
Look for opportunities to partner in some way with people when they are happy and successful. You initiate the idea to get together (maybe take them out somewhere) to celebrate and ask God to help you to genuinely celebrate with them in their happiness.
Don’t ignore the ‘event’ – embrace it and initiate it.Look for opportunities to partner in some way with people when they are sad or “mourning.”
Search the term ‘sitting shiva’ – a practice that Jewish people have of sitting and being with those who are mourning and by speaking very little or not at all while they do so. Initiate opportunities to simply be “present” and available to help those who are sad and mournful.
