Peace Ripple...

"I know you think you should make a trip to Calcutta, but I strongly advise you to save your airfare and spend it on the poor in your own country. It's easy to love people far away. It's not always easy to love those who live right next to us. There are thousands of people dying for a bit of bread, but there are thousands more dying for a bit of love or a bit of acknowledgement. The truth is that the worst disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis; it's being unwanted, it's being left out, it's being forgotten" ~ Mother Teresa

I met a new friend recently. During the conversation, she was saying how she recognised that she often passed judgement on other people, before she had met them, based on the opinions of others. She was not sure if she should do that, but seemed to be stuck in that pattern. I wanted to explore that with her, but just could not find the words. Thinking about it now, I know why, and I also know what I would have said. Which is: "It's very nice that you want to show loyalty to your friends by siding with them, but do you always know if your friends are right? The person that appears to be mean that you are judging - do you know what made them like that? Perhaps they had something really horrible happen to them in the past and their behaviour now is a defense mechanism. Or a cry for help -'I'm in pain'. Who are we to judge another anyway? Has our own behaviour been exemplary? Imagine if we were slower to judge others and quicker to show kindness and compass...

"We are on the planet to be and express the Divine Love of God that is alive in every fiber of our being, waiting to be released through us onto our world. Living as love is a way of life that brings heaven on earth. " Michael Beckwith, Agape Ministries