"The Stoning"...

Lord, I detest myself right now. I've just come from a lunch where 4 of us spent most of our time criticizing a friend - her eccentricities, how extravagant and undependable she is. How she spoils her children, how eager she is to be attractive to men.

And though a lot of these things are true (Lord they really are) I found myself wondering : Who are we to judge? Isn't every one of us guilty of at least some of the very same things? Was that why we attacked her with such relish? - Because it made us feel a little better about ourselves to brandish the defects of somebody so much "worse".

Well I don't feel better about myself now. I keep thinking of what Jesus said to the men about to stone the adulterous woman: "Which of you is without sin?"

Yet we sat, self righteous, stoning our sister with words. How, Lord, can I make amends? I long to call her and beg forgiveness. She would be so hurt. All I can do is ask Your forgiveness and pray for her. Help her, strengthen her, bless her. And oh Lord, put more compassion in my heart, guard my tongue. Don't let me ever again join in stoning a sister or anyone, with words.

~ Written by Marjorie Holmes

The only thing worse than this is a TOTAL APATHY - having no regard for the feelings of the person we have maligned, wronged, or caused to suffer anguish; and sinfully leave measures in place to prevent reconciliation...

God bless each and everyone reading this and may we learn from it; and put it to practice; only we can make this a better world for all of us...