Confession: judging is a weakness of mine. I have been working on this really hard this year! I’m still very imperfect, but I’ve learned a lot in even just trying to improve. First of all, let me tell you, letting go of judgment helps you every bit as much as anyone else. Judgment, though a common trait of the natural man in all of us, since it is not meant for us to do, it is a huge burden. Trust Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ with this heavy responsibility to understand the circumstances and false traditions that lead others to respond to life the way they do. See your interaction with others as an opportunity to love someone who is amazing and is suffering. Because everyone is a child of God of infinite worth ~ AMAZING! And everyone has trials, insecurities, and a million other reasons they show up to life the way they do. So make it easy on yourself and YOU choose to show up to life with LOVE and COMPASSION. Be grateful judging is not on you, it sure simplifies things! One big tip I was given that has helped me more than anything else is this: when I find myself judging someone for something, let’s say I think someone is being selfish... then instead of being frustrated with or criticizing them, I think of a time in my life when I was selfish. Oh boy, I can ALWAYS find any weakness in myself. Then if it’s something I’m still working on, I get on my knees and start pleading for help with that weakness. If it’s something I’ve repented of, I get on my knees and thank Heavenly Father for His Son, for the Atonement of Jesus Christ that has released me of the weight of that sin or weakness. Then I pray for the person who is struggling and ask to know how I can serve or love them today. WOW... Amazing results when I do this! Applying the gospel produces ✨miracles✨, but only every time!!!
Part of my prayer this morning went something like this: ‘Heavenly Father, today’s way to Light the World is to love our enemies. This is so hard. Please help me understand how to put this into action.’ I kept thinking of the perfect example of this when the Savior healed the ear of His oppressor. I watched the video of that event and invite you to watch that video as well. As I went about my day, I eventually got two answers: ‘Who is the real enemy?’ and ‘What do the apostles and prophets have to say about this?’ (Notice how my “answers” were questions. It seems to work that way more often than not.) So I went to the most recent general conference talks and searched for when they talked about enemies and how to love them. I found three main answers: 1) Yes. This is hard. Being a disciple of Christ is not easy, and that’s kind of the point. If I keep trying, eventually, sometime in eternity, with the help of my Savior, I’ll get this right. 2) The true enemies of our souls are the adversary (Ephesians 6:12) and the natural man and woman in all of us (Mosiah 3:19). So when I look with my spiritual eyes I can see that those who use and persecute me, I see that they aren’t the enemy at all. Our enemies are the same — we are actually fighting the same battle! 3) I am so grateful Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father love perfectly, even their enemies, because that is how They can love even me.
