If you look close at the bottom of this picture you can see that this actually comes from the Bible. Matthew 7: 1-5. The thing is that it is a pretty practical piece of advice. The premise is, why are you talking to someone about the speck of dust in their eye when you have a beam sticking out of your own eye?

We all do that from time to time, don’t we? Have a little chat, or call someone out on something they need to work on when we have so much to work on ourselves. I am not saying we are all a bunch of goofballs running around but we are a work in progress. And yet we say things to each other like, “you really need to work on _________” fill in the blank. Usually, when we are agitated with the person we are speaking with or plain agitated with life in general and they just happen to be the poor soul you ran into.

As I sit here I wonder about what is the purpose of doing that other than deflecting what we are truly feeling at the moment. Why is it so easy to become “that person” rather than sit in our own feelings and figure out what it is that triggered us in the first place.

I know with absolute certainty one of my triggers is for someone to say or even imply that I don’t know what I am talking about because I am female. The person is going to get at the very least the stink eye. (and we know that the person is male) On a wrong day all claws come out like Wolverine and the debate begins. When I was growing up women were fighting very hard for equal rights and opportunities as men. Not more because they are women just equal. I also know why it triggers me, it implies “I am less than because I am female.”

I could go on and on about that subject we will do that another time. Here is the thing. Knowing this about myself self I have taken a look at the beam in my own eye. (At least on this subject) And that is really what this saying, this scripture, is all about. Taking a look at ourselves before we say anything to someone about what they need to work on.

I don’t know about you but we are getting crabby here at my house with the quarantine still on. It is getting easier day by day to point out things to the people we have been living with 24/7 than to sit and think about why something is aggravating or triggering a negative response. Not everything needs to be addressed. Most especially when you have nowhere you can go if the discussion gets heated.

We have more time on our hands right now than we have had in the past. It could be used for some reflection on one’s self. To recognize triggers, why they are triggers, and what to do next time sets our trigger off. In hopes of handling things in a mature healthy way. In other words, maybe take some time to behold our own beam and not bother with the speck of dust in someone else’s eye. Good luck!