Judge Not (Part Two)

(continued from here)

Example 2:  My girls never wore a diaper bigger than size four.  Often during those years while shopping for diapers and seeing the size sixes I'd think to myself how big that was and how anyone who had a child that size still in diapers needed to stop being lazy and get the kid potty trained.

Fast forward to the arrival of my first boy, born at nine pounds and three ounces, who was wearing size six diapers long before he turned two.  And now he has a baby brother who was ten pounds four ounces at birth and at five months was wearing nine to twelve month sizes.

I actually think size sixes are getting too small for my two-year-old, but I don't see any sizes bigger than that at the store.  I'm wondering if I might have to put my boys in Depends before we're through with all of this!  Whenever I ponder the diaper dilemma I wonder if this is our fate because I once had those thoughts about other people having kids in size six.  Maybe God is trying to teach me a lesson?

Example 3:  Before I had kids, I always said I wasn't going to allow my kids (if I ever had any) to eat in the car.  The other day my daughter had an accident in her seat.  First I removed the seat from the car to reveal numerous crumbs that had gathered underneath it over the months since I last vacuumed out the car.  Then I took the cover off the seat to wash it and found in the caves and crevices of the plastic shell: half-eaten mini peanut butter cups, a petrified curly fry, little chunks of dried bread, and sticky stuff that was unrecognizable.  I winced a little, remembering my sparkly life plan and how off course I am from where I had imagined.

Example 4:  I think I actually gave housekeeping tips to a young mother when I was fourteen.  She must have though to herself, "Who does this girl think she is?"  (As it turns out, not who I had thought at all!)  And to bring it all full circle, I recently have sought the advice of that same young mother (whose children are now grown), hoping I could find out how to get on top of my mess because I'm so tired of being ON TOP of my mess...or lost in it.

Obviously, I would not change the first two examples.  I love my big boy just the way he is and I am realistic enough to know that sometimes eating in the car has to happen unless we want the children to starve or the parents to go over the edge because of all the whining.  (I have learned that if a child's mouth is eating, it whines less.)

The last example (of keeping the house clean) I would change if I could.  Every day I work on that one.  But the judging part I regret every time.  Jesus loves me and knew I would not be happy if I judge others.  That's why He warned me not to do it.

This month I listened to a talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf titled "The Merciful Obtain Mercy."  The entire talk is worth reading over and over, but this was my favorite part:

This topic of judging others could actually be taught in a two-word sermon. When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following:

Stop it!

It’s that simple. We simply have to stop judging others and replace judgmental thoughts and feelings with a heart full of love for God and His children. God is our Father. We are His children. We are all brothers and sisters. I don’t know exactly how to articulate this point of not judging others with sufficient eloquence, passion, and persuasion to make it stick. I can quote scripture, I can try to expound doctrine, and I will even quote a bumper sticker I recently saw. It was attached to the back of a car whose driver appeared to be a little rough around the edges, but the words on the sticker taught an insightful lesson. It read, “Don’t judge me because I sin differently than you.”

 Amen and amen.

I hope when I stand before my Maker to be judged I will be found merciful because I already know I'm going to need so much of that mercy...

A whole heaping load of it.