I was sitting in my seat (right-hand, aisle, thank you very much!), engrossed in my magazine, when I heard a man say in a rather loud voice, “Excuse me, Ma’am!” Startled, I looked up to see a very overweight man in the seat one row up trying to flag down the flight attendant. When she came to his seat, I heard him ask for a seatbelt extender. My initial reaction was to look at him with criticism in my heart. I judged him for living whatever lifestyle he was living that caused him to be so overweight. Feeling smug, because I work out routinely and like to believe I am in pretty good shape, I turned my attention back to my magazine.

No sooner had I settled back into reading, when I was smacked (figuratively) upside my head by the Holy Spirit. He reminded me, not so gently, that I am overweight too. While I might not be physically overweight, my sinfulness and weaknesses had left me flabby in other areas of my life. Am I always kind, especially to those that I find hard to love? No. Do I refrain from criticizing my former spouse to others? No. Am I always cooperative, patient, and flexible? Heck no! My smugness evaporated quickly in light of these truths. While maybe not apparent to the public, I, too, had areas of my life that I needed to get into shape. Shamefully, I had to admit to myself that I was far from perfect. Aren’t we all…

“Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first”. – Matthew 7:3-5

Originally posted 2016-08-14 17:36:25.