Light a Candle in Our Hearts

 

I'm still reading Becoming Jesus' Prayer. Chapter 3 is about forgiveness.  The authors write, "Forgiveness begins with an awareness of our shared humanity, a recognition of the tremendous capacity that we have to both destroy and bless one another....This honest self-appraisal can also enable us to see our need for interior cleaning....An African schoolgirl described this need for cleaning when she prayed: 'O Though great Chief, light a candle in my heart, that I may see what is therein and sweep the rubbish from they dwelling place.'"

Yesterday, before I read this today, I was thinking about how much we build resentment within ourselves when we judge other people. Maybe they are meeting our expectations, or maybe they are living their lives (or a part of their lives) in a way we would do so. Or maybe we make assumptions about their inner thoughts when they speak to us.

Think about the time when you thought, "He hated what I just said, and now he is angry with me."  We make assumptions about people's emotions or motivations, and we grow angry with them. I wonder if we are projecting our own thought on them; I'm certain we don't know what is going on in their lives. It's somewhat self-centered of us to assume their reactions or what we perceive of their reactions to be about us.

It seems as if changing this part of us - stopping our assumptions and judgments - we rid us of the need to forgive others at times.  If we just lit a candle in our hearts for some self-reflection.