Enhance your capacity to care ... by cultivating a compassionate heart.

When disaster strikes, many of us are quick to respond. We donate, volunteer, and pray. But quieter sorrows surround us every day: the faraway look in the eyes of a coworker, a friend, a family member, or a stranger at the next table. Burdens come in all sizes, and each one is real.

"Compassion: Thoughts on Cultivating a Good Heart invites us to consider that our attention to the little things makes it easier to appreciate the concerns of our friends, families, communities, and the world at large," writes editor Amy Lyles Wilson. "In so doing, we can begin to conduct our lives with an ever-present spirit of compassion instead of saving such outpouring for tragic situations and natural disasters."

In these reflections, writers as varied as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Wendy Wright, Henri Nouwen, and Robert Corin Morris show us what that looks like, from tending an injured animal to sitting with someone in their grief. Together they invite us to slow down, pay attention, and offer our time, our presence, and a listening heart to the people right in front of us.

Inside you'll find:

• Short essays and poems on compassion from beloved spiritual writers
• Practical paths for deepening your capacity to care
• Wisdom suited to personal prayer, journaling, or small-group conversation

Someone near you may need a little of your attention today. These voices will help you notice and remind you what it means to carry one another's burdens.

Part of the Hope, Anger, Forgiveness, Compassion: Wisdom for Today Book Series. Also available as a four-book bundle.

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