Last night, with too many tragedies and conflicts keeping me awake, I tried a time-tested method sure to put me fast to sleep: I watched television. The show was The Good Doctor, which I never expected to like but there I was well past my bedtime, watching the most recent episode. After the difficulties of understanding how to be authentic and know what one wants in relationship, after being duped by a patient, one of the characters said to another, “There are worse qualities in this world than trying to see the best in people.”
Many Sundays we talk about what I call interpretive charity or believing the better story in one another. This, like any spiritual discipline, requires practice. Reflecting on this past week, how were you challenged to believe the better story in a friend, a family member, a neighbor or a stranger? How have you been nudged to let go of a judgment and accept someone for who they are or for what an action is? How are you practicing seeing the best in people?
Each day I work a little harder to practice interpretive charity. Some days I excel; some days I fail. In all of it, I find God and experience again grace upon grace. Each day I am grateful to have a chance to try.
See you in church,
Hope