Why must I judge?

This past conference really opened my eyes and made me realize that I have much to work on. One of those things especially is judging others. Especially after hearing about the bumper sticker that said, "Don't judge me cause I sin differently than you." WOW!

It's crazy how much I judge sometimes, especially 'cause I hate being judged! Ironic huh! Don't we all hate being pre-judged yet we do it all the time. The reason this all came to mind againg was because of something that happened to me this morning.

I was on the Metra riding to downtown with Jaimito. When we were about to get to our destination we decided to stand by the doors and wait for the train to stop. A very well dressed lady stood behind us and I could see her reflection on the window. She was looking me up and down and then looking at Jaimito. Her facial expressions did not look very nice. Immediately thoughts came to my mind. "She must think I'm a teen mom and is judging me." (I get that a lot.) "She must think she's better than me." and so on and on. When suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by her voice. She was now smiling looking at Jaimito saying, "What a cute raincoat you have on, you'll be very well protected if it rains. You're a cute one!" I felt so bad, so guilty. She sounded sincere and as she walked off the train first she smiled at us again. I felt horrible.

This isn't who I wanted to be. Here I was thinking she was judging me when actually I was the one doing all the judging.  I guess I needed something like this to open my eyes and realize that I have a lot of improving to do. And what if she had been judging me? Who cares! Why couldn't I just turn the other cheek and keep going. Was it really going to affect me in any way? Why allow myself to do the same thing.

I'm grateful that my Heavenly Father reminds me each day of the weaknesses I need to turn into strengths. I'm thankful for giving us a prophet and leaders who give us his word to guide us through our mortal life. But mostly I'm thankful for his atoning sacrifice that allows me to repent for moments like this.