If You Judge People You Have No Time to Love Them

Tonight was the General Relief Society Broadcast. It happens once every other year, always the weekend before General Conference. I always look forward to it.

For those of you who don't know, the Relief Society is an all woman's organization. It's actually the largest woman's organization in the world. It stretches across the world in over 170 nations. It is affiliated, and is part of the religious practice, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons). It's amazing.

During this broadcast we are able to hear from the Prophet on the earth today. As of now, this is Thomas S. Monson. He spoke on charity tonight. He shared this quote from Mother Teresa, which is now the title of this blog:

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them"

It struck me in about five different ways all at once. I am speaking of just one at this time.

We have to love. It is a necessity and a natural instinct for all women, everywhere. A thought crossed my mind as I pondered this...we have to love ourselves. If we don't realize who we are and what we are sent here to do it is impossible for us to fulfill the mission we have been given to be charitable. We, in order to be filled with compassion, have to know the love our Savior has for us. After all, charity is the pure love of Christ.

Charity Never Faileth.

That's the Relief Society's theme. It's kind of a loaded sentence. President Monson said that Charity, to him, is the opposite of criticism and judgment. We, as humans, judge and criticize mercilessly. We view different as bad, obnoxious, annoying, etc. We see others as less than or more than ourselves. Yet, these judgments we make in our minds on a daily basis are some of the most incorrect assumptions on the face of the planet. They are only what we create in our own minds. We each see the world around us in completely different lights. Our reality is not the next persons. We are all different.

He shared a story, a true story, about a woman who had a boarding house across from a hospital. She used to keep outpatients there. One night an elderly man with a swollen, red face came to her door. Her rooms were all filled. She spoke with the man, he had been looking for a room since noon that day. He had been turned away by all others. He offered to even sleep in a rocking chair. Her husband set him up a cot. He left the next morning, refusing breakfast, thanking them for their kindness. Throughout the years of his treatment for his face, he came back to the inn and stayed, each time bringing a gift. Sometimes he would send them packages with gifts for their kindness to him. A neighbor, who had turned the man away, told the woman she was most likely losing business by letting people who looked like him in. The woman just thought to herself, if they only knew him.

It's what is inside each of us that counts. Nobody but God Himself knows what is truly in us. Let Him be the judge.

Have charity...it never faileth.