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Filled with messages from God
Originally appeared on spirituality.com
How often, in the attempt for self-improvement, do we criticize ourselves for our mistakes: “How foolish of me! How could I be so thoughtless?” At times, we might even have the same thought about someone else: “How could they do this thing? So inconsiderate!” A few years ago, I became aware that I was holding some negative thoughts about myself and others, and I was surprised when on the heels of them came a spiritual lesson with many wonderful applications.
Like anywhere else, driving near my home can be frustrating, as many people speed, run red lights, or cut off other drivers. On one occasion, watching a driver pull out sharply in front of another, I mentally labeled the individual as thoughtless. But then I thought back to my own morning, when I had forgotten an appointment and made a colleague wait for me. Was I any less thoughtless?
As I considered this, I had to ask myself, “Are these recriminations seeing the true view about God’s perfection expressed in my fellow man?” They weren’t, of course. Thoughts of condemnation were not the way to see the truth about the unknown driver as a considerate expression of God, or the way to see the truth about myself.
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