Our prompt today comes from two recent personal experiences.
My husband was recently one of the judges for the Miss USA Wheelchair pageant. During that time as we talked to the ladies that were involved they shared how they were treated by others just about every time they went out of the house. Especially those that were in a wheelchair due to a physical deformity or medical condition. How sad.
My next experience is very personal. I have a 2 year old grandson that was recently diagnosed with autism.When I shared this with a friend of mine she talked for what seemed to be forever about a high school autistic boy that she has in one of her classes that she can't stand. She even said she needed to take the lessons down to "low hanging fruit" so that he could be involved. I was absolutely stunned. I couldn't believe the prejudice and the lack of really understanding that was coming out of the mouth of my friend.
Instead of judging her too harshly I used this opportunity to take a look at myself. Who do I treat differently or think about differently?
Before we quickly answer no one remember that our prejudices come in many forms and can also be so deep that you do not think they exist. There are prejudice against people that think differently, worship differently, speak differently, are fatter, thinner, beautiful, ugly, handicapped, a different race, from a different country, from the other side of town, mentally ill, rich people, poor people, people with political views that do not align with our own..the list could go on and on.
So can excruciatingly honest with yourself and ponder who you have been discriminating against or prejudice towards in you mind and maybe even in your actions. Write it down. YOUR are the only one that can change this. The first step is to watch what comes out of your mouth. What flows out of your mouth truly is an overflow of your what is in your heart.
Personally, the way I choose to handle this discovery I have made is to pray each day for any prejudice I have to be revealed to me, to not let my words hurt anyone ever and to change my heart in the areas that it is in need.
I close today by reminding you about the gift certificate give away that Your Life Spelled Out is sponsoring in celebration of growing the blog by another 25 people. All you need to do to be eligible is to comment on any post from the 1st of August through the 7th. I will announce the winner on the 8th. The gift certificate can be for Barnes and Noble, Starbucks or Hobby Lobby (your choice).Best of luck to you.
Have a fabulous Thursday!
Sending Love,
Susan
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Thank you for this good reminder! 'Judge not lest ye be judged' is a scripture that comes to mind very often. Sometimes I can't help myself. I am not impervious to rudeness. And then the saying, "walk a mile in another person's shoes". It's good to be aware, and then cut some slack in the ropes.
ReplyDeleteMy son, Zachary, has Down's Syndrome and we have had to deal with many forms of judging for nearly all of his almost 17 years now. I lost nearly all the friends I had when he was born due to their own ignorance, insurance companies refused to insure us, school systems refused to see him for anything other than a student that would get them twice as much funding as a "normal" child, family members who didn't know how to handle it became too busy for us all the time, and parents of children in our neighborhood and at one sitter we had refused to allow their children to play with my son. Ignorance is the real culprit here and it has taken me years to get to a point where I don't really blame these people for their actions. I now know that it is their loss and their lives are the ones to really suffer because of their actions. I have been blessed and no prejudice can take that away.
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