It’s So Easy to Get the Wrong Impression (09/10/2026)

My daughter and I had just left the skilled nursing facility where we’d visited with my mother. We returned to the hotel and decided to sit for a while in the courtyard before going to our room. As we approached, my daughter asked the gentleman if the chairs were still wet from the earlier rain. He answered cheerfully that they were dry. We sat down across from him, and my daughter started to say something more when he popped up, picked up his backpack and dashed off.

My daughter looked at me and said, “I was just trying to be friendly. And he just got up and left.” I was still standing and could see what my daughter could not. He hadn’t just dashed away from us; actually, he was dashing to a bus that just arrived at the hotel. As I watched, he greeted the people as they exited the bus. I explained to my daughter that she hadn’t scared him off and that his rapid exit was not a reflection of his opinion of her but that he was hurrying to meet others he seemed to know.

We laughed about it. But it got us talking about how easy it is to be mistaken about another person’s actions or motives. It can happen so easily. We make a judgment of a moment without knowing what happened before we arrived or what is going on after the moment. Jesus was right to tell us not to judge others.

As we continue our journeys of faith, buoyed by hope, may we believe with all our being that the more we ourselves draw upon the love and mercy of God, the more love and mercy will fill our hearts and spill out for others. Let us remember, the measure a person uses to treat others is the same measure the LORD our God uses to measure us.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.