Lenten Meditations: March 21

“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” – Matthew 7: 1-3

Reflection

This scripture has been in my mind often in recent days, as I have become aware of being in a festival of judging others. A timely, pointed lesson came the other day when I was complaining righteously to a customer service agent about the shortcomings of her company’s software. Imagine my embarrassment and remorse when I realized after ending the call that the problem was on my end and had nothing to do with them.

Frederick Buechner once described sin as separation from God, separation from other people or separation from oneself. My experience with the customer service agent and others like it managed to have all three at the same time: failing to feel God’s presence, failing to see the other as a unique child of God and failing to be true to what is best in myself.

What a rich time Lent will be for me this year as contemplate the log in my own eye.

Prayer

Dear God, help me to experience Your presence in all my interactions with others, to see each person as uniquely Your child and to draw on the best of myself in all my interactions. Dear God, help me to do better. Amen.