Saturday, September 18, 2010

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged...

The other day I was thinking of everything EXCEPT for the stop sign in front of the supermarket and I failed to stop. Not only that, but there was a PERSON crossing and I didn't see him either.  I stopped immediately to apologize. He exploded, calling me an idiot and blaming me for the reason we have to have stop signs in front of supermarkets in the first place. I lamely told him I was so sorry, adding that I usually do stop and that this was not my habit.  He yelled more about how I shouldn't be allowed to drive, etc. Then he stomped away, still yelling.  That incident affected the mood of my whole day, but I think I learned something important from it.  We all sometimes fall into the role of that guy. We may judge others on one incident--without knowing anything else about them and without realizing that our judgment just might affect their day in a negative, maybe hurtful way. I found myself on the receiving end of an inaccurate and hurtful judgment in an event that only lasted a few moments. It made me think.  Thank God for the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ, so that when we do make mistakes (and we make plenty), we can learn from them and refrain from judging others too quickly.

A friend once told me that marriages will thrive when we include the Lord in a sacred "marriage triangle".  You know-- with the Savior at the top point and both spouses at the other two points.  When we look straight at our spouse (or at ANY other person, for that matter), we sometimes don't see clearly.  Maybe our beam is in the way (see Matthew 7:3)? 

But when we look at our spouse through the Savior's eyes (making an angle in our triangle), we are better equipped to see him/her as our Savior sees him/her. And marriage works much, much better with the pure love of Christ as our foundation.  Any relationship works better that way... even an insignificant one involving a stupid, distracted woman who made a mistake by missing a stop sign.

Luke 6:37:  "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven"
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4 comments:

  1. JessieSeptember 18, 2010 at 10:09 PM

    I love you, Mom. Don't worry--if I had been that guy, I wouldn't have yelled. I'd just give you the finger. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. CindySeptember 19, 2010 at 2:00 PM

    I love you Laurie. If anyone knew you at all they would know how bad that made you feel and you could beat yourself up all by yourself without the help of an angry man!!! You are the one person I think of when trying to see the best in others you are an example to me!! I'm so glad I could post today Have a wonderful week chicky poo

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  3. StevieSeptember 21, 2010 at 9:36 AM

    I forgive you and that's all that really matters, right? I made a poor decision the other day and I got yelled at by a man way bigger than me. To make things even better I "politely" told him to mind his business. I learned that the way you handled yourself, in my opinion, was the right thing to do. And if I find myself in a situation like that again I will follow your example.

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  4. The Mrs.September 27, 2010 at 1:38 AM

    Also-if you are on one corner and another is the other corner and Christ is at the top, if you are both working towards Christ you will get closer together. Naturally.

    Jamee
    xoxo

    I'm catching myself up on your blog. I love you!!

    ReplyDelete

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