Article May 5, 1945 Issue

The Joy of Judging Righteous Judgment

DORRIS E. POWELL

"Judge righteous judgment." Through the din and roar of a world which seemed filled with human analysis, faultfinding, and precision at placing the blame, this calm, strong edict finally made itself heard, and I thought, "Yes, yes, I am using very good analytical judgment: that girl is very dictatorial, this man certainly is not truthful, and those persons undoubtedly are the most selfish I have ever met!" "Judge righteous judgment," the quiet bidding continued. "Judgment"—I was indeed using plenty of that—but "righteous" judgment? Mary Baker Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 476, 477), "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals." The mortals of my world were certainly appearing to me, if not as actually sinning, as erring—very erring!

I knew better than that. I had had the beautiful proofs and healings and joys which accompany years of Christian Science study, but for some time the strands of my affairs had been gradually becoming more and more tangled, with everywhere the indication of lack—lack of funds, lack of justice, lack of time, lack of opportunity, lack of companionship. For a week now I had been attempting to untangle things, had been praying. "Father, show me the way, that there may be uncovered what in my thought should be cast out." And now this truth was gently and insistently knocking at my consciousness: "Judge righteous judgment." I knew it was the answer to my prayer, and I felt, for the first time in weeks, calm and at peace, and had a deep sense of humility, such as must have prompted the publican to whisper (Luke 18:13), "God be merciful to me a sinner." It was indeed inspiration, and it brought me rest.

Then came new views of those very individuals whom I had been so caustically analyzing. For instance, the girl who seemed so dictatorial: I now saw that her very insistence that things be exact stemmed from a desire for correctness; her appreciation of beauty was a worthy quality; her letters, packages, and thoughtfulness for her husband overseas surely indicated her unselfish affection. Here, in a flash, I realized I had been so darkening my glass with belief in dictatorship that I hadn't seen the good qualities which were there. Paul's words (I Cor. 13:12), "Now we see through a glass, darkly," helped to awaken me.

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