Think the Best of Each Other

"Think the best of each other, especially of those you say you love. Assume the good and doubt the bad." 

~Jeffrey R. Holland

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Focus on Improving You

Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others. 

~H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Judge Not

“There really is no way we can know the heart, the intentions, or the circumstances of someone who might say or do something we find reason to criticize. Thus, judge not.”

Love, Don't Judge

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

~Mother Teresa~

Judging Defines You

"Judging a person does not define who they are. It defines who you are."

~Unknown~

Leave Time For Love

‎"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

~Mother Teresa~

A Beautiful Landscape

‎"Be willing to look at others without judging, projecting, or telling yourself a story about them. Be neutral, as if you were looking at a beautiful landscape. Simply observe and learn."

~Sonia Choquette

So Far

Always when judging

Who people are,

Remember to footnote

The words "So far."

~Robert Brault~

...and that goes for judging yourself too!

Who Am I to Judge Another?

This is from last nights General Relief Society Meeting:


"My dear sisters, each of you is unique. You are different from each other in many ways. There are those of you who are married. Some of you stay at home with your children, while others of you work outside your homes. Some of you are empty-nesters. There are those of you who are married but do not have children. There are those who are divorced, those who are widowed. Many of you are single women. Some of you have college degrees; some of you do not. There are those who can afford the latest fashions and those who are lucky to have one appropriate Sunday outfit. Such differences are almost endless. Do these differences tempt us to judge one another?

Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” The Savior has admonished, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” I ask:Can we love one another, as the Savior has commanded, if we judge each other? And I answer—with Mother Teresa—“No; we cannot.”

—President Thomas S. Monson

Who Am I To Judge Another?

Who am I to judge another

When I walk imperfectly?

In the quiet heart is hidden

Sorrow that the eye can’t see.

Who am I to judge another?

Lord, I would follow thee.

(“Lord, I Would Follow Thee,” Hymns, no. 220)

There is Always Hope!

More from John H. Groberg:

"Let me read something on this point written by Elder Orson F. Whitney, one of the Twelve Apostles some years ago:

You parents of the wilful and the wayward: Don't give them up. Don't cast them off. They are not utterly lost. The Shepherd will find his sheep. They were his before they were yours--long before he entrusted them to your care; and you cannot begin to love them as he loves them. Our Heavenly Father is far more merciful, infinitely more charitable, than even the best of his servants, and the Everlasting Gospel is mightier in power to save than our narrow finite minds can comprehend.

See how important it is to follow the admonition given by King Benjamin in Mosiah 4:9:

Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; [most of us will go along with that, but the last part] believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend [sometimes we, by our actions, think we are smarter than he is].

Let's not spend our time hoping or worrying about justice being done to others. It will be done. Let's spend our time being just ourselves.

One of Satan's ultimate weapons (if not the ultimate) is to remove hope from your life. He tries to convince you that you can't do it, that there is no hope. Thus, by removing hope, he removes Christ from your life, for Christ is hope. Satan can never quite accomplish that fully--at least not here--because it is a lie. There is hope built within all of us. There is always hope.

On the other hand, the thing Satan cannot fight is one who is full of hope--for he is then full of the Spirit of Christ--and when that hope is perfected or full, Satan has lost completely.
(John H. Groberg, 'There is Always Hope', BYU 3 June 1984)

A Sign of True Hope

From a talk given by John H. Groberg:

"I often hear people talk of hope .... They say, "Well, I hope he gets what's coming," or, "I hope justice is done." Don't worry about that. He or she will. The ones we ought to worry about are ourselves.

We spend so much time and effort seeking remedies or justice (on spiritual things especially) "here and now" when, in fact, much, if not most, of justice will be done "there and then." We ought to spend time and effort here and now to prepare for there and then. Most "justice" occurs after this life. We ought to be glad it does, for so much went on before and will go on after of which we are not aware--but God is aware.

If we are to have a fullness of hope (and that is our goal--hope in all things), our hope must transcend this mortal existence. It had better, or as Paul indicated, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (1 Corinthians 15:19). One who has true hope in Christ will not judge others.

From a remarkable talk give by President Stephen L. Richards in April of 1956, let me quote:

The Lord has said, "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men" (D&C 64:10). If we were more liberal in our forgiveness, we would be more encouraging to repentance. Someone has said that the supreme charity of the world is in obedience to the divine injunction, "Judge not." When the Savior gave that injunction, he was well aware of the limitations of human understanding and sympathy. We can see overt acts but we cannot see inner feelings nor can we read intentions. An all-wise Providence in making judgment sees and knows all the phases of human conduct. We know but few of the phases, and none very well. To be considerate and kind in judgment is a Christlike attribute. [Stephen L. Richards, April Conference, 8 April 1956]

Those with hope, then, do not judge. When I hear of people making judgments (and we all do more than we want to--we do too much--and it is a sign of our having less hope than we should), I think, "Who do we think we are anyway? The very best of us, the most kind or most loving and forgiving among us is only, as it were, in kindergarten--or lower."
(John H. Groberg, 'There is Always Hope', BYU, 3 Jun 1984)

Looking Beyond Imperfections

Mormon 8:12
"And whoso receiveth this record, and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things than these. Behold, I am Moroni; and were it possible, I would make all things known unto you."

When I read this the other day I recognised what a great principle is shown here that can be applied to our relationships.

It is sometimes so easy to notice the imperfections in each other (but also ourselves), but if these imperfections become our focus it shadows us seeing who people really are and missing out on the "greater things" than these.

The people who have motivted me the most in my life are the ones who look beyond my weaknesses, and see me as God sees me. So, that is my invitation you today - to look beyond the imperfections, and allow yourself to see the greater things which are available to those who do.

Positive Proofreading

This is an excerpt from a talk by Elder Oaks, called“Judge Not” and Judging (from the August 1999 Ensign) which I love:

“In a BYU devotional address, Professor Catherine Corman Parry gave a memorable scriptural illustration of the consequences of judging by the wrong standards.The scripture is familiar. Martha received Jesus into her house and worked to provide for Him while her sister Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His words.

“But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

“And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha,thou art careful and troubled about many things:“But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her”(Luke 10:40-42).

Professor Parry said: “The Lord acknowledges Martha’scare: ‘Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things’ (Luke 10:41). Then he delivers the gentle but clear rebuke. But the rebuke would not have come had Martha not prompted it. The Lord did not go into the kitchen and tell Martha to stop cooking and come listen. Apparently he was content to let her serve him however she cared to, until she judged another person’s service: ‘Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me’ (Luke 10:40). Martha’s self-importance, expressed through her judgment of her sister, occasioned the Lord’s rebuke, not her busyness with the meal” (“ ‘Simon, I Have Somewhat to Say unto Thee’: Judgment and Condemnation in the Parables of Jesus,” in Brigham Young University 1990-91 Devotional and Fireside Speeches [1991], 116).

The great essayist William George Jordan wrote: “There is but one quality necessary for the perfect understanding of character, one quality that, if man have it, he may dare to judge—that is, omniscience.Most people study character as a proofreader pores over a great poem: his ears are dulled to the majesty and music of the lines, his eyes are darkened to the magic imagination of the genius of the author; that proofreader is busy watching for an inverted comma, a misspacing, or a wrong font letter. He has an eye trained for the imperfections, the weaknesses. …

“We do not need to judge nearly so much as we think we do. This is the age of snap judgments. … [We need] the courage to say, ‘I don’t know. I am waiting further evidence. I must hear both sides of the question.’ It is this suspended judgment that is the supreme form of charity” (“The Supreme Charity of the World,” The Kingship of Self-Control [n.d.], 27-30; emphasis in original).”

I hope that we will be proofreaders of the positive qualities and attributes of others (and ourselves!) today.