This afternoon I watched with a mixture of amusement and disgust a very impatient driver just laying on his horn at the truck in front of him. The light was green. Of course the truck should go. However the driver of the honking car could not see what was in the crosswalk in front of the truck. There was a lady with one small child in one hand as she was trying to push a baby carriage with the other hand.
I was a bit chagrined as I realized that I and many of my former colleagues at our little college that closed were just like the honking driver. We complained and we criticized and we had all kinds of advice for what should have been done when we could not see everything that was going on. It is easy to sit back and offer all kinds of critical advice when we speak in ignorance. How often we critique others behavior when we have no idea what kind of home they come from. It has taken me many years to learn what I am about to say. But I totally believe the following. “Most people are doing the best they can.” Just because they do not do something the way we would do it does not make what they do wrong. It merely means they do it differently.
I love Galatians 6 in The Message paraphrase. “Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day is out.” I think I like this so much because I have so often been the one needing the forgiveness.
Written by Roger Bothwell on September 28, 2011
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org