Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

Advent Prayer

Father, in the wilderness of the Jordan you sent a messenger to prepare people's hearts for the coming of your Son. Help me to hear his words and repent of my sins, so that I may clearly see the way to walk, the truth to speak, and the life to live for Him, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.


Not by appearance shall he judge,
nor by hearsay shall he decide.
Isaiah 11:3

Reflection:
We all know the saying don't judge a book by it's cover. Because, what is inside is what matters the most. How many times have we done exactly that, judged by appearance? Many times I'm sure. Now that you have done the judging of appearance and proceeded to get to know the person, your judgment was off wasn't it. The people that we judged were a pleasant surprise in personality. Or come to find out a complete loss.

The same would go for hearsay shouldn't it. Many lives have been ruined because of hearsay. It comes around like gossip, the retelling looses something valuable, the truth. Like when we tell stories of fishing, Such as we caught a huge fish, then stretch out our arms to show how huge, but it was only palm size. Not a good example I'm sure, but we get the idea don't we. That particular one happened to have been a lie, rather than the truth, and in the retelling the fish became gargantuan in size.

So very much hinges upon how we perceive how we see and hear doesn't it. If we all have 20/20 vision and perfect hearing then what is the problem. But many do not have perfect vision or perfect hearing, like the saying goes about selective hearing in some, it happens in their sight too.

So when we look at another human being, do not judge their exterior, it is the whole person that counts. Their heart, soul, mind, the things we do not see about them, but in the eyes of God make them beautiful beyond our scope of sight. Let our eyes see beyond what we perceive as beauty in another to see the heart of each of our neighbors. Love them as you would yourself.