“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3-5 (NASB)

Sometimes I can get wrapped up pretty tight thinking about what others are doing that I feel like are wrong or offensive to me. It’s not something I am proud to admit, but I have to be honest with myself and with others.

Lately, I have been in a bit of a spiral about how someone I love has been knit-picky, argumentative, forgetful and generally getting under my skin (the world according to me). Thankfully, I have a child who doesn’t mind calling me out respectfully and also is full of wisdom. She reminded me of a few things and perhaps the key thing was that I actually have control of what my reactions can be and that it is important to choose not to get into conversations that I know are going nowhere fast. She also reminded me that some people are not going to change but we can change how we interact with them. Then finally she reminded me that I am also at a point in life where my perspective has changed due to aging and general life living. She did not directly point me to the text above, but when we finished talking, I felt better but I was also reminded that perhaps I have been very busy trying to remove a speck/splinter from someone else’s eyes while I was walking around with a log in my own eyes. It was a humbling but necessary talk and text for me.

We can easily decide what someone else should or should not be doing in their lives. We can make snap decisions about another person based on their appearances and their actions without once taking into consideration the how or why of their life story. Few and far between is the person who does not do this even a little bit. I hear it and see it almost daily. Even though I worked for twenty-five years in the court system and grew to understand that “there but for the grace of God, go I” as I listened to countless stories and cases, I can also fall into the habit of seeing the specks and ignoring the log. I can be prone to correcting people’s words, or expressing what I think people’s motivations are when I really don’t know. My work life experiences has put a level of cynicism in me that I am aware of and constantly trying to overcome, so when I hear it coming from someone else, it can irritate me. I don’t necessarily like to be corrected either. These are little things perhaps, but left uncheck they can quickly spiral into a very judgmental attitude that I recognize is not pleasing to God. He is the one true Judge of all, so my two-cents really don’t mean all that much.

I took a walk after that good conversation and all the above began to filter into my mind. That’s the way the Spirit works, He brings to our memory the commandments we need to successfully live out our faith. As I walked, I began to realize that some of the very things I was complaining about, I was engaging in as well. I had to have my personal confessional moment, get my heart re-set and begin again. I have a different approach right now, that I am praying the Lord will help me to continue with. I am also realizing that now I see I have a log in my own eyes that I am working to get rid of, I am not so inclined to even attempt to handle someone else’s speck. I think Jesus knew that when He gave this teaching. Furthermore, the idea of being a hypocrite is motivation enough for me to be on a continual search for my own logs and to let others handle their specks.