Tonight I had the privilege of listening to President Thomas S. Monson speak to the women of our church. I feel spiritually fed and eager to be better. The theme of his talk was to follow Christ's example and "Judge Not!" He quoted Mother Theresa who said, "If you judge people, you have no time to love them." How true! I love that! I am quick to negatively judge people (especially strangers). He counseled us to "wear the mantle of charity" and to be tolerant, lenient, forgiving, patient, sympathetic, compassionate, and merciful- especially in times of weakness and error of others. He encouraged us to be charitable towards the unnoticed and discouraged. He also quoted Horace Mann as saying, "To pity distress is but human, to relieve it is God like." Love it!!!
I am resolved to be kinder and more loving. Just tonight at the grocery store, the check-out lines were long and I noticed two people in line behind me who darted towards a newly opened line. The woman had been in front, but gestured for the man to go in front of her. The man didn't hesitate, but immediately took her up on her offer and moved to the front. My natural, reactive thought was, "Where is chivalry? I can't believe he had the gall to get in front of her! Pig!" Then, I stopped myself and tried to re-train my thought process. The Christ-like way to look at the situation would be to praise her gesture and her charitable act. And, then to assume that maybe he needs to hurry home to help a sick child or something noble like that. {Sigh} Thinking this way will take some major practice on my part.
I am grateful for my Savior and His sacrifice on my behalf so that I can repent and be better. I wonder how many times I will have to hear His words before I will actually heed them. I'll try today and then tomorrow and hopefully better habits will one day become second-nature for me.
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