Fat People

This is like a confession really. There is a woman I know, who is about my age, maybe younger (which is not hard to do) who is really really overweight (morbidly obese I think it is called) and who smokes heavily. She is really unwell, and has been for a while. Her lungs must be a mess really: really squashed and small, and choked with smoke. Last year she had bad bronchitis. But as far as I can see looking at her and her daughter she has not stopped smoking and has not done anything about her weight. As you might tell, I struggle to be nice around her. Her cough is appalling. No compassion at all!!

The other day she collapsed. She is now in hospital; her condition is critical but stable. When I heard about this I thought two things. One is, well this was coming. The other was, "where is my compassion here? How do I know what she has or has not tried to do? Why am I so quick to judge?"

I hope and pray she recovers, which is by no means certain. I hope and pray that she does loose weight and stops smoking, for her daughter’s sake, so her daughter has a mum around. (Her daughter is in her early teens) But I also hope and pray that I will not judge what ever happens, that I will have compassion, be full of mercy, full of Christ's love for her. O that is so hard.

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