Spirit of Unity Meta-Musing

Judge Not by Appearances...
But...

Blessings to you!

They say, "Seeing is believing." But I say, "'taint necessarily so." We remember that Jesus told us not to judge by appearance; that when it was necessary to judge, to use "righteous judgment."

You may wonder, what "righteous judgment" might be. To me, it is discernment. To discern is to look deeply and weigh all possibilities before jumping to conclusions.

Most of us tend to have a "knee-jerk" reaction to news we hear, making judgments based on assumption. We assume when a loved one is withdrawn that it is our fault; every illness is fatal, an unexpected expense will cause poverty, or every person of a particular race, religion, or lifestyle thinks like the "worst case scenario" of any negative prejudice. Remember "pre-judg-ice"= Judging without discernment.

Some of the places that this is most dangerous, include:

News reports that are biased and opinion-based, because we have not yet learned that news is not always truth.

Gossip, which is always prejudiced, opinionated and based on assumption.

Political Facebook posts, which if fact-checked are found to be erroneous or flat out lies.

Judging others based on a perceived offense...be certain you are not reacting instead of responding. Ask.

Get the picture? Here's an interesting tidbit...I have always had challenges with the spelling of the word. Is it "Judgment," or "Judgement?" Some of my Unity books spell it with the "e" in the middle. Interestingly enough, when I looked up the etymology of the word, I discovered that without the central "e" the word refers to outer judgment, but with the "e" in the middle, it is a personal judgEment, which could be an opinion...or...the Ego speaking.

Is it any wonder we call Jesus our Master Teacher? Today would be a perfect day to ponder your spiritual power of discernment. Does it need a tweak? Not to worry. You've got the power!

I recently put this to work in my own life. My great-grandson Tristan is experiencing a number of surgical procedures to repair a congenital heart defect. Rather than "see" him surrounded by surgeons, equipment, etc. I printed out a picture of a healthy heart. Each time I think of him, I "see" his heart strong and healthy.

My ego would like to take credit for this, but what actually happened is that many years ago a congregation member shared the story of her "incurable" pancreatic disease. She asked the doctor what a healthy pancreas looked like. She then proceeded to focus on the picture in her prayer time. In the end, she was completely healed. Think on these things!

Rev. Alicia Leslie

Spirit of Unity

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