Good Morning, God
Judge not, that you be not judged. Matthew 7:1 ESV
I woke up this morning, with these words in my heart. And I prayed for the courage to share them. Why? Because, just in sharing them I will be judged. So, let me first make it clear that I am, by nature, Chief among the Judgers. And I have spent the vast majority of this presidency JUDGING FEROCIOUSLY.
Then in April of 2020 it came to me that I should take the command to pray for those who despitefully use me, literally. So, I set aside 10 minutes a day to pray for those who I saw as despitefully using (if not me) the planet. Praying for someone I judged. . . day after day . . . is something I don’t think I had done before. It was — imperceptibly — affecting me.
First, I began to see that I shared some of the very qualities that I detested in that person. Hmm. . . my Shadow Sides began to present themselves to me. This was not easy. It was, in fact, painful. But, as I started slowly seeing a bit more of myself, I began to experience a deep compassion for myself and for all of us human beings. Oh! What fools we mortals be!
Then, I was led to add five more minutes to my prayer time — bringing the total up to fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes a day to pray . . . but, for what and for whom? Well, God, my prayer topics seemed to keep on broadening. My perspective kept on expanding. And it kept on including ME! These words of Jesus came to me: “whosoever shall say [to his brother] thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”
YIKES! That seemed a trifle harsh, God! But, then I considered the level of discourse that has grown out of this kind of name calling and hatred. And surely, we are, right now, experiencing “the Fires of Hell”.
Story teller,
A Moment with God 
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