Judgment

This weeks prompt from GBE2 is "Judgment"  so here's my take.

Judgment is not supposed to be for us to dole out.  It is for God and God alone to judge our lives, our choices, our actions.  That is how it is supposed to be and I try not to judge others.  I try, but there are times I find myself decidedly judging people for their live style or their choices.  I really fight with myself about doing so because I don't want to be judged through someone else's eyes.  Do unto others...you know that one, right?  Judge not that ye be judged, right?  

The people I find myself judging are those who injure a child or neglect a child or those who cause pain to others just because they can.  I find myself discounting people who operate in a world where their wants and needs are more important than the wants and needs of someone else.  Selfishness is very hard for me to accept without judgment.  What kind of person deliberately causes pain and harm to another human, let alone a child, and somehow feels that it's okay because they wanted to, what?  What did they want to accomplish that in their mind makes it okay to damage another human to satisfy or advance themselves?  Or gain something they want or need.  It's very difficult for me to NOT judge these people as evil and a waste of our good air;  but I tell myself, "my job is to forgive them," if they have caused pain to me or mine, and pray for them.  If I have just read about them or the news told me of them, I just need to pray for them, not to judge them.  It's a process for me.

I also find myself judging people who use others.  I know in this life, at least, we cannot use others to their detriment and our gain without paying for that in one way or another at some point.  My grandmother told me when I was a little one that I should never try to get even with people because God's revenge is so much better than mine.  I believe that.  God evens things out in ways we would never think of on our own. I do remember that when I see a 'user' in action whether they are trying to use me or someone else, but I fight the urge to judge them as pitiful.  Instead, I need to just pray that someday they will see what they have done and repent.  Not something I easily believe will happen, but one can hope.

Otherwise, in my own life, I find judging unnecessary.  I love the diversity of human beings.  I embrace the idea that the world is filled with people who are so different than I and each of them make our world a happier and more productive place to live.  I love that we are all individually shaped into whatever we have become from whatever template God chose for each of us.  What we do with that template is so interesting and exciting. I love how people change because of their circumstances and their choices.  We become who we are because of where we've been and how we chose to handle each situation.  That is not to be judged, but admired.



It is NOT for us to judge, lest we be judged.  It is, however, for us to distance ourselves from those who cause harm, while we pray for their salvation.  It is a world which contains harmful and evil actions by people who chose that path.  It is also a world which contains saviors and friends and angels whom we may choose to keep close.  


I choose to seek those people out and hold them very close.   


:)  Jo

Rainbows Over My Head

BFF picture prompt...


Looking up and seeing a rainbow arcing across a still damp sky always makes me feel hopeful.  I am not a big fan of rain or storms, as some are, but a rainbow following seems to be God's promise of greener foliage and brighter flower colors and a new freshly washed moment in time.  

A promise that tells us we do get another chance to get it right.  Some of us need more than one more chance.  Glad there is no limit on how many rainbows can occur in one's lifetime.  

Even the ever changing colors in the trees beneath this rainbow can't dampen my spirits.  The fall colors are not inspiring for me, not exciting as they are to so many of you, but with a rainbow hanging hopefully high above them, they don't look so sad to me.  

Perhaps the rainbow is trying to brighten their colors and convince them to hold tight to their leaves just a bit longer.  Or perhaps, I am doing that and using the rainbow as my own personal 'tool'.  



Children often choose rainbows as their favorite thing.  I think it's the way one can hardly be sad or even indifferent when you see one.  Rainbows require our attention and they also require that we appreciate their uniqueness and their beauty. 

They are rare and therefore, precious.  They are beautiful and therefore, admired.  They are yet another of God's gifts to us and therefore, free.


Wishing you all a rainbow in your day.  If not a literal one, a figurative one.  


Jo






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