Compassionate people are another of the serving gifts.These are people persons, quieter and less outgoing than those with a speaking gift of perceiver, teacher or administrator. The gift of compassion includes an almost supernatural sensitivity to the emotions of others. These people get upset when a baby bird falls out of its nest and is grabbed by the neighbors cat.
This unique sensitivity makes them apt to feel wounded or offended easily and they cry over everything. Correction and criticism that would not faze a teacher or administrator  will break the heart of a compassionate person. They live through their feelings. If they feel sad because they weather is rainy, even the excitement of an upcoming vacation probably won’t lift their spirits, because by golly, they feel sad and so it’s a sad day. They need to know that feelings lie, that we can’t base our decisions on how we feel because we’ll make some very bad decisions that way.

In the body of Christ, compassion people are the glue that helps us stick together. They reach out to hurting people, they notice when someone hasn’t been to church in a while and will call them to see if they’re okay. They can sense, in a room full of people, the one person who is feeling lonely and sad. Now, if their gift of compassion has been recognized, appreciated and encouraged, so they have sufficient sense of self worth, the compassion person will reach out to a hurting person with God’s love and comfort. If their gift has been ignored or ridiculed, or unappreciated as a child, they will not understand the importance of their gift and they won’t have the confidence to share it.

More than any other gift, compassion people need to be built up, encouraged and showered with love and hugs. They need to know they are NOT being overly-sensitive when they cry over every little thing. They certainly need to learn some perspective about over-reacting, but they should never be told their feelings are wrong.

Descriptive words:
Sensitive
Love everyone
Hurt when others are hurting
Exceptionally shy
Dislikes confrontation
Quiet
Poor self image
Kind
Needs lots of hugs and affirmations