Judge-y

Do you watch Netflix? Have you ever binged a show and gotten the “Are you still watching this” question? Netflix can be so judge-y. So can we.

I was on my weekly Tuesday walk when a neighbor drove by me. I waved. She didn’t take her eyes off the view ahead. If anything, she had an angry look on her face. This neighbor, the husband and wife, don’t seem to like me very much. They once did, but then something switched. Not sure what, but all of a sudden I was on their bad list. I kept walking and felt judged. I felt like I had been wrongly read and dismissed. Have you ever felt that way? Someone created an opinion of you that was way off base. It’s tough.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-6

I don’t know about you, but I don’t realize how often I judge. The moment my neighbor didn’t wave at me, I created a story; a false narrative. I have been the judge and I have been on the receiving end of judgement. Neither is good. Most of us have heard Jesus’ words in Matthew 7. Even if you are not a Christian, you have heard the log and speck analogy. I think about the many ways I have been judged: my looks, finances, what I do with my time, my kids, my marriage, you name it. Most of the time, the judgments are false.

What if we stopped. What would happen if we just let people be. Let’s stop making assumptions and started freeing ourselves from the bondage of false narratives. 

Judging eats up so much of our time and energy. It spawns anger and resentment deep within our souls that drags us down and makes us unlikable and difficult to be around. Our judgments don’t bring justice for the wrongs of others. Instead, they paralyze us and rob us of our joy.

We are all worse than Netflix. We are all more judge-y than any of us is willing to admit. Most of us, if we are being honest, judge more than we love. What would change in your life if you stopped?

I am calling all of us, myself included, to call ourselves out. Every time that judge-y thought crosses our mind, we stop it in it’s tracks. I will take it one step further and have all of us write down every time we have a judgmental thought or word. I bet we’d be surprised how quickly we fill a page.

I don’t know about you, but I have plenty to work on for myself instead of being tied up in judging anyone else. I need to solve my own issues instead of the world’s. My log far outweighs your speck. I am looking forward to a more joy-filled peaceful life because I am willing to release the chains of judgment. Will you join me?

Love & Blessings,

Meg