Gentleness...

Today I was having this exchange with a reader at "Faith and Family Live" on the subject of reverence ("Driven to Distraction"), and she shared this quote that was so relevant, and so lovely, that I just had to post it here.

Your story reminds me of this wonderful quote from LouisLavelle:

"Gentleness is not the same as indulgence for the faults of another; rather it is the recognition of his existence and his presence in the world. With the practice of gentleness, his mere existence ceases to be an offense to us; we no longer try to thwart him or destroy him, we accept him; we are happy that he should be. We enjoy his existence, so to say, with him. We see it as an invitation to a spiritual cohabitation, physical cohabitation being no more than an image of this.

"Gentleness is active good will towards other men, not for what they are only, but for what they might be. It enables us to see many possibilites which a rougher hand would force underground or blight, and which, perhaps, would never come to the light of day and bear fruit were it not for the attention and confidence we have shown.

"Gentleness enables us to accept all the laws of our human condition, and in so doing, to rise superior to them. He who revolts against these laws shows how deeply he resents them and is their slave, but he who accepts them in a spirit of gentleness penetrates through them and fills them with light. Of these laws also it must be said that their yoke is easy and their burden light...

"True gentleness is so considerate, so tactful and so active that, when we meet it, we are always astonished that it can do us so much good, while at thesame time apparently giving us nothing."