The People Catalogue

"Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? " Matthew 13:55 RSV

Do you remember the fat and clumsy child on the playground at recess? Do you remember the nerd? At work is there one person who just doesn't fit in? Did you know that Einstein was classified as mentally retarded because he could not speak by the age of four? Isaac Newton was classified as an occultist because of his theories on a force that could not been seen - gravity.

We all do it. We catalogue people to store them away in the proper place in our minds. When these people jump out of the box where we have placed them, or when their actions and personalities become clear to us in a way that challenges our catalogue process, we still will not let go of our judgments. In fact we become angry because they cause us to question our paradigm. We have closed our mind to their possibilities.

This is exactly what God meant when he said "Judge not lest you be judged." When we catalogue people, we may miss their wisdom, their kindness, their playfulness, their genius or even their plan of salvation.