Judgment

 I went out of town over the weekend and forgot my black-out poetry books.

After my initial panic and disappointment,

I told Heidi the Librarian of my forgetfulness,

And she immediately sent me pictures of the pages we were supposed to be blacking out.

While creating black-out poetry on my phone wasn’t my ideal way of creating,

It allowed me to not break my two-year streak and to continue my discipline over the weekend.

And I’m glad.

Because a poem emerged that I needed to write.

 

…

 

Confession:

On Saturday night, I had just finished talking about a friend to another friend.

I was lamenting how we had grown apart and how our theologies had gone in different directions.

At one point in our lives, we were so close,

But time and work and experience have caused us to drift apart.

I wasn’t saying anything truly bad about my friend,

But I was still quietly judging them.

While I know that God is bigger than anything I can comprehend,

And while I know there is room for theologies that differ from mine,

I must admit that, in my humanness, I sometimes feel that I am “right”

And I don’t always understand why people can’t see and understand God the same as me—

Especially people I care for.

 

…

 

And then I sat down to write.

And what I saw was this:

 

“It is not for me to judge you.

I pray

I

Never

Do it again.”

 

…

 

Dear God: Forgive me. Forgive us. For judging. For condemning. For getting so caught up in self-righteousness posed as Your-righteousness that we forget simply to love. Help us to look for the best in one another and to spur one another on in faith. And help us always to examine our hearts to get to the root of our judgments…which is very often jealousy or fear. Amen.