When we were living in Colorado I attended the Relief Society broadcast with my mother in law. I LOVED President Thomas S. Monson's talk. It was perfect. Go here to read his entire talk. You won't be disappointed. But here on my blog I just wanted to copy and paste a story from his talk. Here is the story.......
A young couple, Lisa and John, moved into a new neighborhood. One morning while they were eating breakfast, Lisa looked out the window and watched her next-door neighbor hanging out her wash
“That laundry’s not clean!” Lisa exclaimed. “Our neighbor doesn’t know how to get clothes clean!”
John looked on but remained silent.
Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, Lisa would make the same comments.
A few weeks later Lisa was surprised to glance out her window and see a nice, clean wash hanging in her neighbor’s yard. She said to her husband, “Look, John—she’s finally learned how to wash correctly! I wonder how she did it.”
John replied, “Well, dear, I have the answer for you. You’ll be interested to know that I got up early this morning and washed our windows!”
Let me say that I didn't feel like I was a very "judging" person. But as he shared this story at the beginning of his talk and I realized that it was about judging others, I thought in my mind... "Oh this is on not judging others... I hope "so and so" is listening to this." Quickly I caught myself and realized how quick I was to judge! After I made that judgement in my head I began to wonder how often I did that. Even though I don't say it to other's it's still there for the most important person to hear... Heavenly Father. And no one loves that person I am judging more than Him. I know it hurts Him just as it would hurt us to have people talk or think unkind and untrue things about our family and loved ones. For the next few weeks, after hearing this talk, I made a conscious effort to not judge others... even in my head. I don't think we realize how often we judge others. Over those few weeks it was sad to see how often I found myself needing to change my thoughts about people I didn't even know... people that I would see in places such as the grocery store or the person in the car driving next to me. As judgements would come into my mind I would try to replace them with a kind thought about that person. Or say a little prayer for them. Well life went on and my conscious effort wasn't there like I would want it to be. But today I was reminded of this talk and want to try again! Wanna try with me? I promise you will feel happier and better when those judgements that come to your mind about others are replaced with kind thoughts or a little prayer. Or when you decided to be quiet and not speak unkindly about others or walk away or don't participate when others are doing it. You will even feel a love for those people!
Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from this talk...
There is really no way we can know the heart, the intentions, or the circumstances of someone who might say or do something we find reason to criticize. Thus the commandment: “Judge not.”
Rather than being judgmental and critical of each other, may we have the pure love of Christ for our fellow travelers in this journey through life.
