Judging

Recently on the CBS Sunday Morning show, a story about how book jackets are created caught my eye. As an avid reader and writer, the truth is that just about anything having to do with books will easily attract me. But this story made me think of that old saying that “you can’t trust a book by its cover.”

How often have I been fooled by someone or some situation, in terms of thinking one thing and seeing another? I have been guilty of pre-judging, though I am a tolerant person. And just recently I was able to apologize to one of our teammates for what I thought about him when he first joined our group. I misjudged him and badly, but now we both know each other better.

A strong feeling I have always had is that every one of us has a story. Every one of us has a unique reason for being and lessons to teach. The world we live in may not allow for as much listening as we would like … time rushes by us and we fail to connect on anything more than a superficial level. How great it would be if we could go beyond the book jacket on a more regular basis.

I pray that I can stop and listen to stories, learn lessons and trust … trust what really matters, the inner person I am listening to. Not just what I see at first blush, but what is truly there. Because I don't know what that person has gone through ... I learned a lot about that last weekend, at the Emmaus Retreat.

God is the only judge ... let Him do His job, and let us be more open and understanding to the people we know.