I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watchin' Me....

Running a bit late on this post but it has been a been a bit of a hectic week.... good but hectic!

i saw something happen the other day that i thought i would share because it was pretty disturbing although i am not real sure why....

In preparation for an upcoming training meeting for some leaders of our small groups i went to a local grocery store to purchase supplies. What is interesting is this is a local store where members of my family and myself constantly recognize people from our congregation and they recognize us. i am almost certain that every time i go to this store i see someone that i know.

Anyway, as i was leaving the store to return to my car i saw someone that i knew but i could tell they were in the middle of talking on the phone so we never acknowledged one another. However, since my car was a couple of rows away from them i could clearly see him but he never saw me. One of the things i also noticed was that this person was parked in the "Handicapped Only" parking stall... which was strange because as far as i know this person is not handicapped at all. Now all of a sudden a wave of thoughts hit me like a ton of bricks... first i thought..."They know better..." then i thought, "They don't get it..." only to be followed by, "i wonder how many people see me do "something" in public and think these same thoughts about me?". Ouch!

i came away from that experience reminded that before i begin pointing out the stuff in my neighbors' backyard, maybe i should focus on cleaning mine first. It's easy to condemn someone else but that is the problem isn't it? Taking a closer look inside of ourselves before jumping to conclusions about others and their actions is a lot more difficult than it sounds.

My gut feeling is if we were to as individuals commit to this type of "fearless self inventory" on a regular basis, i bet a ton of finger pointing, tongue wagging and blaming would cease or at the very least, ease up a bit....