The Window

  There is a story of a woman who, while working in her kitchen, would look out of the window and into the neighbor's yard, where her neighbor was usually hanging up her laundry to dry.  The woman would scowl and inquire of her husband as to who taught their neighbor to wash her clothes.  "They're filthy," she would say, "Someone did a poor job of teaching her how to clean clothes."  This went on for several days.  Then, one morning, while doing the dishes, the woman looked outside and exclaimed, "Look!  Our neighbor has finally learned how to properly do laundry!"  To this her husband replied, "Actually, you will be surprised to know that I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."  The woman stared at her husband flabbergasted.  She had always thought that her neighbor's laundry was dirty, while it was her own window that needed cleaning.
  This story really put things into perspective for me.  It made me wonder to myself, How often have I judged someone else when I was in no position to judge? I then went through my day and thought of all of the times I had thought ill of somebody.  Then I went through and thought of all of the mistakes I had made that day.  There were several instances when I had been judging someone's clean laundry based on what I saw through my dirty window.
  While this realization brought me disappointment in myself, it also brought me hope.  Now that I had realized this problem I had, I would be able to fix it.  I had brought light to it, and would now be able to proudly say, "I'm improving!"  Besides, isn't that what life is really all about?  Moving forward?  Progressing towards a perfect state?  Nobody is perfect, but as long as we are trying our absolute best to be like Christ, we have a promise that we will "be perfected in Him."  So don't judge someone's laundry through a dirty window, or in other words, don't expect others to be perfect when you yourself are not perfect.  We are all trying our best, and that is what counts in the long run.  ~Sky