Strength in gentleness

I've never thought much about the quality of gentleness. Some people have pointed out that I'm a gentle person, and I never thought it was really anything to be happy about. Sometimes I think of gentleness as being weak and lacking authority or decisiveness.

In my work with my clients in social service, I realise that one of the qualities that is important is gentleness. Not just because it helps me work better with them and build my relationship with them, but because it builds trust and it asserts great influence on the working relationship. If we remain humble and gentle, clients are likely to share more because they do not feel that they are being judged, as they have already been so often by the other people in their lives. It just doesn't help to have one more person judging them. When we're gentle with them, they are more open to our ideas because they start to trust that we are working for their best interest in mind.

Being harsh and judgemental will close the door, especially for those who are already hurting and have been through so much in their lives.

It is a journey for me, as someone in the social service, to withhold my judgement and to have compassion, because I have been given much much grace and mercy in my life. I shouldn't see my clients through the social standards of society, but rather, see them as much in need of grace as I do. Because ultimately, when all is stripped away, when money, appearance and successes are no longer a concern, we are all human. We have the same basic needs, the same need to be loved and to love, and the needs of finding purpose and meaning to our existence. We have all fallen too, though we experience the fall in different ways.

It's hard to cope with the many cases that I am taking. I admit that there have been days when I lack compassion for others, and passion for what I do. Cases remain as just cases. And they become only mundane and hard work.

But I hope that my heart will remain tender and I will be gentle with the people I am in contact with. And perhaps, it can only remain so, when I continually see how I have received much grace and realise the gentleness that I have been treated with. I hope that, just as Jesus provides the rest and grace for those who are weary and burdened, I will be able to provide that kind of experience for my clients, especially those who have yet to know Him. Maybe, when they have a different experience, they will come to seek the reason for my hope.

All these words that I type will remain as words, unless God's grace is continually at work in my life, to change me, to be more like Him. I need to press on.