IT'S EASY TO DRAW CONCLUSIONS about
other people's motives without knowing
their true circumstances.

On the day before Thanksgiving, a young
woman stood at the head of the checkout line
with a meager order of groceries. Her welfare
card had been rejected several times by the
scanner, and customers behind her were
impatient. One man loudly remarked, "People
onwelfare should get jobs like everyone else!"
When the woman abandoned her groceries
and fled to her car, the store manager reacted
with fury. Turning to the offending customers,
he shouted, "You should be ashamed of
yourselves! That young lady's brother was
killed in Afghanistan two years ago, and she's
raising the three young children he left
behind." With tears in his eyes, he added, "I
believe that welfare card may be the only
thing keeping a soldier's orphans from going
hungry." The humiliated customers scrambled
to pay for the young woman's items. They
bought and delivered several additional carts
of groceries and a freezer as well.

Fortunately, our heavenly Father is more
like the compassionate store manager and
not the judgmental customers. He knows
the motives behind our actions, and
"forgives and acts" based on the truth
within our hearts. As the words of Solomon
reveal, only God can "deal with each man
according to all he does," because only He is
able to "know the hearts of all men."

Lois Helland

Ask God to help you see others' hearts through His eyes of
compassion and forgiveness.