Do you remember how exhausting your first baby was? It was such a huge adjustment! I wish I could go back and have a chat with myself and and say "Oh Mama, you think it's hard now? You have no idea..." Not really a pep talk but if I could've had a peak at what was ahead maybe my little situation wouldn't have seemed so hard.
Isn't that the way of life? If you have personal experience with something you're more likely to be empathetic to the people around you. Some people are born with an empathetic bent. I was not. Unless I have done it myself, I usually just don't get it. Since that is the case, it's really good for me to try new things.
This was our third year doing swim team and this year all four of our kids are doing it. (I thought I was busy before. Ha!! Our summer was SO crazy!) I've had friends who did swim team but until our first year doing it, I had never been to swim meet before. Before we started, I knew that those swim friends were busier but truly had no idea what being a swim mom was like. Now I understand why those people didn't return messages right away or why they couldn't get together. Looking back, I'm so thankful for the times that they squeezed me into their schedule.
At the start of our first swim season I was a little disappointed. I have an older blog post about this swim season so I'm repeating myself here, but for the amount of money it cost, I had hoped for more. Our first season the coaches were so short handed. There were more girls on the team, plus one with special needs. The moms I sat near at practice also had some frustrations and before long it seemed every practice was a complaining session. At first I was an active participant and would come home all worked up and upset. I began to pray about it and then at one meet I got to see how much that coach was juggling. A high school student, with 25 girls on her team, had to plan out what events they would swim, keep track of kids and get them to events, plus swim in her own events. All in the midst of hundreds of other people. Seeing what all she was doing made me feel bad that I'd been crabby and thankful that she was giving her time to do this. I approached her mom and told her how impressed I was with how much her daughter had to juggle, and at the next practice her mom was there to help!
Empathy is such an important characteristic in the body of Christ. Being aware of others means you take some of the focus off yourself. People who only think of themselves aren't as useful and I want to be a useful member of the body of Christ. I also want my kids to be useful! I have one child that can always see what needs to be done. She has such a servants heart and just jumps in and helps where she can. She is also good at seeing peoples' emotional state before she does anything. She can sense moods, has good timing about when to approach people and is pragmatic enough to not take things personal. I don't know if this is empathy but it certainly lends itself to it. If this is an area you struggle with pray about it. Here are some verses to pray through that might help.
Philippians 2:4
Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others.
1 Corinthians 10:24
Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.
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