Understanding People

Have you ever jumped to a conclusion without knowing both sides of the story? What about failing to give someone the benefit of the doubt when they have never wronged you or even if they had?
I’m working on seeing others from another set of eye’s.  I have a wonderful husband who’s pretty good about letting me see things from another view.  Countless times I’ve been in situations where I hear things or view things and instantly form an opinion.  I may have even engaged in conversation about what I had heard or viewed and then we all formed an opinion.  I think it’s easy to form that opinion, but wrong!  No, I’m not perfect!  Yes, I’m guilty of this!
Have you ever thought about how the world would be if we all understood each other?  I would like to think that it would be more peaceful, but maybe not.  Maybe it  would be complete chaos!   How can we truly know someone’s thought process without being that person?  We can’t possibly know what everyone’s thinking.  Would it really matter if we could?  I’ve always been told that there’s two sides to every story, but I think there’s more.  Anytime we're involved in another individual’s business wheels star spinning and people leave with an opinion.
What’s sad is that we form this opinion without walking a day in their shoe’s.  I’m working on being careful in these situations.  Maybe that’s why God gave me a husband that does exactly that.  My husband is so good at talking me through my thought’s.  Marshall's thought process is different from mine.  Most of the time he turns the situation for me to see another view.  Imagine that! (LOL).  No, I respect him for that!  We all think differently, I’m not always right,  and I can’t continue to judge situations from how I see them.
We all make poor decisions throughout our lives and have to pay the price for those decisions.  More times than not the pain of those decisions is enough to endure without others causing more pain.  It’s not our place to judge other’s decisions.  How do we know their challenges?  No one is perfect in this world.   Let people be who they are without your opinion.   Allow people to grow and learn the best way they can in life.  Choose to accept others for who they are and help when you can.    Maybe even choose to love that person and be true to them instead.  After all we're responsible for ourselves and our families no one else’s.
So, I’m choosing to leave situations or conversations feeling comfortable and having a peace.  I choose to not walk away with doubt and carry that uneasy feeling with me.  I’m going to try my best to look at things from another set of eye’s.
We don’t always know people’s hardships, and what they are dealing with or have dealt with.  I just think it would be nice to look at the big picture and to not cast judgment on what we think the situation is.  In the end…..Do we really know the story anyway?
James 1:19  "My beloved brethren, discern carefully.  Let each person be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.