The clothes on the line

This little story came in a recent email. A good reminder for me!



A young couple moved into a new neighborhood

The next morning while they were eating breakfast, the young woman saw her neighbor hanging the wash outside."That laundry is not very clean", she said. "She doesn't know how to wash her clothes. Perhaps she needs a better laundry soap.

Her husband looked on, but remained silent

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman passed the same judgment.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: "Look, she suddenly has clean clothes! I wonder who helped her learn to do her wash?"

The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."

Conclusion: What we see when watching others depends in large degree on the purity of the window through which we look.

The letter

I was part of a board meeting last night where a letter was read. The guy listed several things that were bothering him. What I heard was, “Here is what I am unhappy about: 1,2,3,4.” The letter sounded critical and negative, and I said so.

To my amazement, the other board members (all six of them) didn’t hear it that way. Their generous hearts heard, “Here are some issues that are concerning me: 1,2,3,4.” And they discussed those issues compassionately.

We all heard the same words. I was tremendously embarrassed to have been the only one who heard them negatively. I have committed my life to seeing God’s man through the turmoil, through the fog, to finding Christ in the other person. And I fell flat on my face last night.

I took a walk this morning to talk to God about this troubling event. My first choice would have been a walk in a forest or a field. It was instead down the sidewalk in my neighborhood where they are building a new firehouse and, in fact, the sidewalk is torn up in places.

But you know what? God doesn’t only speak to us in the quiet of the forests and the fields. God speaks to our hearts, even on city sidewalks. I wanted to come to terms with that letter and my reaction to it. And what I heard from God was so comforting, “Just love. You don’t have to judge.”

“Oh! That simple?” I asked.

“Yes, that simple!”

I realized I didn’t have to judge or react. If I stick with my life commitment, I can see past even criticism and negativity to find Christ, and I can be part of the solution instead of escalating the problem.

Turning lives around

Valuing others' lives --

A mama swan protects her babies.

One of today’s encouraging phrases runs something like, “He did a complete turnaround.” Or “She did a one-eighty -- referring to the number of degrees required to change from facing in one direction to facing the exact opposite direction. North to south, east to west.

I love when “one-eighty” praises someone’s ability to make a dramatic course correction.

Jesus was always doing that – turning people’s lives around, facing them in new and promising directions. It was as though he put a gentle finger under a downcast chin and lifted the gaze from the ground – helping them to see their world on an eye-to-eye basis, literally lifting their self-esteem to glimpse their worthiness as children of a loving Father.

The woman dragged to him for judgment makes a great example. From the scant information provided, it sounds like an entrapment – she had been set-up and caught having sex with a man not her husband. The Pharisees, Jesus’ self-appointed very public critics, had tossed her in front of him as so much trash, daring him to not have her stoned to death as Moses’ law required.

Jesus let them rant awhile and then posed a solution. Anyone of you, he proposed, who has never committed a sin, never done anything wrong, go ahead and throw the first rock. His simple statement demanded honesty and self-knowledge. Quietly, they all left.

And the woman! What a sense of freedom and relief when Jesus helped her see that no one was accusing her anymore. He sent her home with the admonition to stay out of trouble - specifically to sin no more. Was he was showing her God-given sinless nature? the satisfaction and self-worth that come from recognizing the genuine beauty and purity of her true femininity?

When he healed people – blind, crippled, diseased – usually long-time sufferers, he restored purpose and value. Jesus' life message was one of hope, healing, transformation.

He told his followers to do what he did. I wonder, if we all made a special effort to value those who come into our lives today, how much hope and purpose we might bring without even knowing it? Might we just help turn somebody's life around?

Letting divine Love be true north

finding true north

It remains a mystery how my two good friends could go so wrong. It was easy (for me) to see exactly what changes needed to be made so that their lives could get back on track. Trouble is, neither of them felt anything was wrong with their attitudes, or how they lived. Fact is, they didn’t even know each other.

So what did they have in common? Me, as chief and self-appointed critic.

I do try to listen to God a lot. So while I was dithering about my friends, I was also kind of praying, and God, whom I alternate between calling Father-Mother, and Love, asked these questions. “Andrew needs to change? Ed needs to change? What’s wrong with this picture?”

When we are willing to listen, and hear the answers from God’s point of view – even things we think we really don’t want to hear – God has a way of speaking to each of us in a way we’ll understand. I got the point right away. God was telling me I was not their boss. That He/She is in charge of all His children, and is constantly speaking to each of us, telling us whatever we are willing to hear.

Appreciating God’s part in this conversation, I backed off from the dithering. The next day a dear friend reminded me of the best way to help difficult people in our lives -- to love them. To love whatever it is God loves about them. And if we cannot think what God could possibly love about them, that’s OK, because God knows what He loves about them.

Whatever they need to sort out in their lives, will get sorted out much more quickly as we love and support their true selves as God knows them. Whatever they may be indulging that is ungodlike will dissolve sooner in the bright light of love.

I was immensely grateful to realign my thoughts with healing, rather than criticizing. It feels so natural to side with Father-Mother Love. As a compass needle swings naturally to the north, so God is my true north. I know I’m on the right track when my goal is just to love God's creation, when I am divine Love centered.

Living with sprouting purpose

Ever feel like an old stump?

The story of Job records the struggle of a man dealing with injustice and know-it-all friends. In great despair Job observes that even the stump of a cut-down tree might sprout if it just had enough water.

"There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. . . Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant."

Although Job felt worse off than a dead stump, his remark gives me hope! No matter what the loss that makes us feel cut down and useless, with trust in a loving God, we can deal with it. Lost job, lost friendship, lost self-worth? God has a good plan for restoration and renewal, and He wants us to know what it is.

In Job’s case, when he prayed for his super-critical friends, he rediscovered his oneness with God’s purpose for him. The tragic losses of previous years receded as he moved forward in every aspect of restored and productive living.

Note to self: It’s easy to pray for those who are pleasant. It’s important to pray for those who are not, that they may discover their inmost God-given nature is one of caring and patience. Willingness to wrestle with ourselves in order to pray for difficult people -- those we think least deserve it -- adjusts our course, realigns us so that we find ourselves in the groove with our Maker.

Related: Scent of water - Kim Korinek

Checklist for making choices

Deborah Skillin, a Christian Science practitioner living in Florida, recently challenged Radio Sentinel’s listeners to watch every choice they make, by using a checklist: one for choices that aim us toward God, the other for choices that steer our thought away from God. She defined sin as making choices that turn us away from God. And she identified repentance as throwing off those poor choices.

This delightfully practical approach to monitoring what occupies our mental energy, invites us to do something constructive. That very morning while driving, I began to weigh my thoughts. One mildly critical thought would have waltzed right past the mental security detector, had I not been so closely examining my thinking. It was a joy to take charge and say, “Nope. Not going there!” Criticism is one of those mental elements that steers us away from God.

I asked God what He/She knew, and He told me worthwhile things about this person that I had forgotten. These were thoughts leading towards God and towards recognizing His harmonious government of the universe – and leading out of the mesmerism of negative thinking.

What a God-given privilege to be able to make choices, to have the opportunity to choose the best course of action. And to realize that we can select our thoughts as carefully as we would select quality furnishings for our homes.

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“Of two things fate cannot rob us;
namely, of choosing the best,
and of helping others thus to choose.”
Mary Baker Eddy
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