Family & Compassion

My parents are coming to see us today and hang out with us over the Easter weekend.  It seriously feels like sunshine when I get to see my parents in the flesh.  It has been over three years that we have lived in different states, and although we have come up with ways to cope with the distance, I still long SO much to live in the same city eventually.  I want to do the little things like eat lunch after church on Sundays, watch football, hit golf balls, cook out, go shopping, etc.  I definitely do not take for granted the times we get to spend together.  I know that God is using this distance to teach us all something that we wouldn't have learned otherwise.  I've gotta believe there is a purpose!

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I have often pondered what is the right amount of compassion I should have for patients/clients.  This sounds like a complacent and selfish thing to think about.  Don't judge so quickly.  Before I worked with people on a daily basis I would have said that we (individuals that have a job helping people) should give our compassion unceasingly and without reservation.  I have learned that, when I allow myself to hand over my emotions and heart to too many people, my heart becomes heavy and burdened.  Compassion to me is sharing similar emotions with another person, and also bearing burdens, carrying baggage, and longing for the well being of someone else (most of all by a relationship with Jesus).
If I shared my heart and such a deep compassion with 20 people per day, I would worry and have an empty emotional tank.  I would run out of "self" to give.  I would get home to the person I love most and have very little left to share.  I think that, yes, we should be compassionate, not indifferent, with our patients/clients.  We cannot effectively glorify God, by making him recognizable, without love.  Who wants to sound like a resounding gong or clanging symbol?  So what is the answer?  I think we must try to show compassion like Jesus.  Obviously, he was perfect at it and I will never be.  He wept with people, yet still kept his meek joy and foundation since he trusted in his Father and his sovereignty.  I do not think that we should allow others to burden us so much that it steals our joy/hope.  John Piper states, "If our joy is lost, Christ is belittled, and what then has love to offer to the beloved sinner?"  We can be totally angry and saddened by their life circumstances or wrongdoings, but realize that God is in control and still have hope.  I must learn to trust Him with my patients/clients.  John Piper also said, "Let us not be content with sins, let's be content with God in relation to sinners."
Show them God's love, but not worry endlessly over their issues.  I think worry is the opposite of courage.  Beth Moore said, "courage lives in a heart convinced that it's loved."   May God give us such a solid joy, knowing that we are loved by Him, that it may not be stolen when we must mourn over or with others.  May we trust him, not only with our own lives, but with the lives he places in our path.  Anyone have a trick to this complex balance of compassion and guarding your heart and emotions?