a bottle sprayer, a scale, and a hairspray cap

Curious?  This morning I walked into our bathroom to get ready for the day, and there, right in the middle of the floor, blocking my path to get to the sink... sat the bathroom scale.

First reaction? "Ugh!  What is so difficult about putting the scale back once you've pulled it out? I ALWAYS am the one who puts it away when I wasn't the one to get it out!" (Maybe I should get it out more!  I think I'm putting on a couple extra unwanted pounds!)

The Holy Spirit immediately hit me with two other things lying on the floor that apparently had fallen while I was getting ready yesterday... a bottle sprayer and a hairspray cap.

How many times are we quick to judge what someone else does or what they have not done that we think they ought to do?  And all the while, we ourselves, have double the trouble in our own lives... It's like the Gospels talk about... we're quick to point out a speck in our brother's eye while we have a beam sticking out of our own.  Let's remember to extend grace to others in their shortcomings... chances are that we've got double of our own, but we are blind to them.

When I walked into the bathroom, I did not see the bottle sprayer or the hairspray cap.  I saw the scale.  But taking a moment to be introspective, I realized I had no room at all to judge another when I myself had not done due diligence to pick up what I had apparently dropped in a hurry yesterday.  Why is it that we see problems of others as shortcomings in their character, yet we stack up excuses as to why our own shortcomings are what they are?  You see, I could have blamed that scale sitting there on my husband being lazy and not putting away what he got out. All the while, I would have said, that the reason my own things were on the floor was because I was in a hurry and didn't even realize that they had fallen.  But what if I turned that around, and gave my husband the grace rather than myself?

Is there something that really irritates you about the person you live with or minister along side of?  Chances are, there is... but don't forget to offer grace rather than judgment today. Chances are... they were the ones who need grace, and we are the ones who need to work our character.