Looking Through Dirty Windows

Last night was the General Relief Society Meeting. I LOVED President Monson's talk. If you have a minute, you can watch it here (his talk starts at about 57 minutes). Here are some of my favorite quotes from him last night:

"I begin with a short anecdote which illustrates the point I would like to make. A young couple, Lisa and John, moved into a new neighborhood. One morning while they were eating breakfast, Lisa looked out the window and watched her next door neighbor hanging up her wash. "That wash is not clean!", Lisa exclaimed. "Our neighbor doesn't know how to get clothes clean." John looked on but remained silent. Every time her neighbor would hang up her wash to dry, Lisa would make the same comments. A few weeks later Lisa was surprised to glance out her window to see a nice, clean wash hanging in her neighbor's yard. She said to her husband, "Look John, she's finally learned how to wash correctly. I wonder how she did it". John replied, "Well Dear, I have the answer for you. You'll be interested to know that I got up early this morning and washed our windows".

Are we looking through a window which needs cleaning? Are we making judgments when we don't have all the facts? What do we see when we look at others? What judgments do we make about them? Said the Savior, "Judge not." He continued, "Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" (Matthew 7:3) Or to paraphrase - "Why beholdest thou the dirty laundry at your neighbor's house but considers not the soiled window in your own house?" 

Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: "If you judge people, you have no time to love them." The Savoir has admonished, "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you." (John 15:12) I ask: Can we love one another, as the Savior has commanded, if we judge each other? And I answer--with Mother Teresa--"No; we cannot."

—President Thomas S. Monson  

Are your windows clean? I need to wash mine...or maybe Eric will get up early and do it for me :)