Making assumptions

There is a story told of a little boy and his father who were travelling together on a train.  As they travelled, the boy consistently whined and cried.  It was an overnight train, and even though the boy and his father retired to the sleeping berth on the train, his sobbing could still be heard by other passengers. 
  

One of them, having heard the boy's crying for many hours, became impatient and irritated.  In anger and disgust he threw back the curtain to where the father and his son were settling down for the night. Harshly, he cried out, "Mister, if you can't control this boy and make him stop crying, you need to let his mother handle him!"  The father replied softly, "Sir, his mother has just passed away.  We are taking her home to be buried."

How easy it is to stand in judgement on others and make assumptions about them without knowing the full picture.  We may have little or no idea what is going on in another person's life which may be leading to apparently irrational or unreasonable behaviour.  Singer songwriter Philippa Hanna summed it up well in her song, "Getting On With Life."

I know from personal experience that times of stress or difficulty can lead to me being less patient or attentive than I ought to be.  It's not an excuse, but it may be a reason.  As I've thought more about this, I've tried to put it into action: when the checkout operator is grumpy, when the car driver cuts me up or appears not to be concentrating, or when someone I know if very offhand with me.  I try to remember to pray for God's blessing upon them, whatever they are going through.

Ultimately, it's about being people of grace.