assumptions

Consider, for a moment, the idea of assuming the best about someone else. We are so quick to judge others based on what they look like, what they do, and what they say. (Or this is my problem anyway.) Sure, actions and words may tell a bit about a person, but do we really know the heart of every one? Do we really know the whole story?

Hypothetical Situation #1: A husband promises to have supper started when the wife gets home from her stressful 12-hour day. When the wife gets home, it is obvious that supper has not been started. There is little food in the fridge, the restaurants are closed, and everyone in the house is hungry. Immediately, the wife gets frustrated, and by the time she finds her husband, she's boiling inside.

Hypothetical Situation #2: You're driving behind a very slow pick-up on US-75 between Sabetha and Holton. You want to pass this slowpoke, but a driver behind you beats you to it and passes both you and the pick-up. A natural reaction might be fury.

In both situations, do we ever stop to think that the "guilty" person might have a reasonable explanation? James warned us..."let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger..." (James 1:19). Paul taught us in Romans 12:3 "not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think" but "in humility count others more significant than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3).

Maybe the husband in HS1 stopped to help an old woman on the side of the road whose car had broken down, so he didn't have time to start supper. Perhaps the crazy driver who passed you had a wife in labor and needed to rush her to the hospital. Why do we always assume the worst--that the husband in HP1 is an inconsiderate, selfish bum and that the crazy driver in HS2 is a dirty, rotten scoundrel with a bad case of road rage? Maybe we're wrong!! Instead of harboring anger and counting the maybes as rock-solid truths, why don't we assume the better? Is it wrong to make up a "maybe" excuse for someone else?

I'd venture to say that assuming the best of someone else can turn a selfish, self-righteous, judgmental attitude into a humble one, a gentle one, a patient one, a forbearing one. And this is choosing to love.

psalm 139

¹ O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

² You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
³ You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
⁵ You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

⁷ Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹ If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,"
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

¹³ For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

¹⁹ Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
²⁰ They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain!
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
²² I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!

random ranting

An American Girl doll. Do the sweet girls in your life have one? Yesterday, we got an American Girl magazine. Don't ask me HOW they found us, because I don't know. This magazine was filled with 55 pages of AG supplies, from $40 doll outfits to $8 glasses and $14 head gear. Seriously. Head gear. But they called it a Healthy Smile Set. See for yourself:

l kept the magazine open to this page so I could rant to Jared. Instead of starting off with a rant though, I asked, "Do you think Carly needs one of these $100 dolls?" His answer was the one I wanted: "NO!" I told him, "Let's hope she never wants one." Later that evening, Carly found the magazine and began thumbing through it with awe. I told her those dolls were too expensive...as much as TEN Thomas-the-Trains. (That's how we measure money around here. If Isaac looks like he's going to break something, we tell him what it's worth in numbers of trains. He seems to understand well.)