Alma 41:15 - Judge Righteously

As I was reading from Alma this morning, and also including in my prayer that I be forgiven for my lack of grace last night, this verse hit me with force. I'm constantly asking Heavenly Father to help me be rid of my judging nature. It is wrong, and I know it.

Most of my serious sins happen within the confines of my mind and stay there. On unfortunate rare occasions, those judgments slip through my lips and cause me serious pain. 

Such was the case last night. Maybe we were both tired. Nonetheless, I was annoyed that my opinion on appropriate dress for a nice affair was not valued, and I brought contention into our home. This is something that doesn’t happen much anymore. Like I said, I think we were both tired. Talk about having the Spirit chased instantly out of our house! I had been busy writing music. That came to a screeching halt. I wasn’t in the mood to do Family Search. Things just got cool. I apologized profusely; he did as well and we moved on. It was awkward though. Not only that, but sleep was nearly impossible to attain. All night long I tossed and turned and the song I was working on worked on me. (Funny thing, but the song is "I Believe in Miracles".)

I find it amazing that in my first life—before turning to the Lord and letting Him be my guide, my life was nothing but contention. There was never a peaceful moment. I can’t believe I didn’t have more problems than I did. I also go back to my childhood and see now why the explosiveness in my childhood home was such a negative thing in my own life. You would think I would have been smarter in choosing my first companion just because of that. 

So how do I bring this around to judging righteously? If peace is something I truly desire, (and I do), maybe I need to be more tactful in my comments; in my righteous judgments. I believe firmly that if something is not of eternal consequence, then it is of no consequence at all. Maybe I need to do better at practicing this again. Maybe I need to thoroughly repent and be done with this insidious trait. Ah, but I error in my thinking. This is an imperfect world and we are all imperfect, but trying to do better and be better. Today I will do just that——and try to remember it in the future.