The whole world was shocked on December 26 in the year 2004 because of the Tsunami tragedy. When you think that the lives of over 200,000 people were literally wiped away, their homes destroyed, their families separated and tragedy was all they had to look forward to. But when you analyze what happened after December 26^th, the world should have a little feeling of joy because of all the compassion that came to those victims from every corner of the world. It was a great outpouring of love, sensitivity and compassion. Thank God there were so many that reached out to those who were caught in this unfortunate tragic event.

However, compassion is one of those qualities that has to be a constant in our every day way of living. We have the words of Christ reminding us when I was hungry you gave me to eat, thirsty you gave me to drink, and naked you clothed me. Just think of this, there are over eight hundred million people on this planet who earn a salary of about $400 a year. In the language of Christ they still have to be fed, they still have to be clothed, they still have to be housed. Compassion can be defined as love at work in a crisis and even though we are untouched by the tragedies of those who live thousands of miles from us, we can never forget right in our own back yard there are people who are in need of the compassion that you can bring into their lives. All of us today live in a sense of fear about the war that we are engaged in. All of us are worrying about the economy and where our country is going. All of us wonder about our own health and what the future has in store for us. Everyone's life can be helped by the Christlike compassion that you bring into that person's life. A kind word, a friendly card, a short letter, all of which indicates that you are reaching out to those who might be forgotten by others. All of those little acts of compassion brighten the life of those who are the recipients.

Do you remember many years ago there was a song called Little Things Mean a lot and went something like this: Blow me a kiss from across the room, drop me a line every day, a line a day when you are far away, little things mean a lot. While we are on this earth, most of us will never go to Southeast Asia where the tragedy of December 26^th took place. Most of us will have very little influence on the millions of people who live on such a small salary per year throughout the world. But everyone reading this article right now is capable of doing a little thing. A little thing for a member of your family, a little thing for a member of your neighborhood, a little thing for a member of your office. You can never forget the definition that compassion is love at work in a crisis. When you perform that one little act, and with the grace of God someone else imitates what you do, you can make the lives of those people happier. You can make your own life that much more pleasing in the sight of God.