Judge Not: Eating Cookies

A friend of mine, returning to South Africa from a long stay in Europe, found herself with some time to spare at London’s Heathrow Airport. Buying a cup of coffee and a small package of cookies, she staggered, laden with luggage, to an unoccupied table. She was reading the morning paper when she became aware of someone rustling at her table. From behind her paper, she was flabbergasted to see a neatly dressed young man helping himself to her cookies. She did not want to make a scene, so she leaned across and took a cookie herself. A minute or so passed. More rustling. He was helping himself to another cookie. By the time they were down to the last cookie in the package, she was very angry but still could not bring herself to say anything. Then the young man broke the cookie in two, pushed half across to her, ate the other half and left. Some time later, when the public-address system called for her to present her ticket, she was still fuming. Imagine her embarrassment when she opened her handbag and was confronted by her package of cookies. She had been eating his.
~~Reader's Digest, Dan P. Greyling

 I love this story. It's a wonderful example of judgement being switched into understanding.
But imagine what the story would have been like if the young man hadn't been kind. What if he had snatched up the bag? What if he had yelled at the woman, maybe even calling her a thief? The woman may have responded in anger of her own--she didn't know they weren't her cookies.
How different could this story be, if the young man didn't chose to react with love instead of judgement or anger.

What about your story? Do you have a person in your life that acts out or acts angry? Maybe all you need is some understanding.

Another story tells of a mother whose son wet the bed every night. She got so angry! Hadn't he learned by now how to go to the bathroom? But no matter how much she lectured or scolded, he continued to wet the bed.
Many years later, doctors discovered that this mother's son had a serious medical problem. One of the symptoms of that problem was bed-wetting. 

How might this mother feel, hearing that all those years her son had wet the bed, it was only his body reacting to a sickness? If she had been able to find understanding with her son they might have discovered the problem early, or at least she and her son could have had a better and stronger relationship.

I know that a lot of anger, frustration, and resentment can be avoided if we strive for understanding. Heavenly Father can bless us with understanding or at least with patience until we can receive that understanding.