Back to believing the best and traffic court

1 Corinthians 13:7b in the amplified version says this,”Love is ever ready to believe the best of every person” Really? In that context, how many people do you love? Yeah-- me too. You see, I’ve been hurt before and I often find myself kind of shored up so that I won’t be hurt again. That means, it feels safer for me to prepare for the worst in people rather than believe the best. God what about that? (listening) Hmmm the sense I have is that people rise to our expectations. I think that’s true… so does that mean that when I prepare for the worst, the worst comes out in people? (listening) Ouch! I know that’s true, I remember learning that concept while raising my children. If you believe in your children, and truly work to put your trust in them (which sometimes means confronting dishonesty in a way that brings resolve) they live up to your expectation of being trustworthy. Sometimes my kids mess up, but I believe they don’t want to. There is no greater gift you can give your children than that.

I teasingly practice this passage when we are driving and someone who is obviously in a hurry cuts in front of our car. I have replaced that exploitive of exasperation with something like, “Well, their wife must be having a baby in the back seat” lol!

It is possible! I once went to traffic court to contest my own speeding ticket. ( I had a lame excuse) The man ahead of me was from an eastern block country. He and his pregnant wife were in America on a visa. While here his wife went into labor, he took her to the hospital but was refused admittance because he had forgotten her visa. In a panic he left her in the waiting room and raced home. On the way back to the hospital, he was pulled over and cited for speeding. The poor man was a wreck. He didn’t know what to expect from an American court. It was comically sad. (Hopefully hospitals have learned something since then!) The judge sent him rejoicingly on his way and then turned to me and asked, “Can you beat his story?”

I was thinking about ANTs (automatic, negative thoughts), how ANTs effect our health and well being, and believing the best. There is so much written in scripture to protect us. Perhaps believing the best of people is a gift to both the one believing the best, and the one who is given the benefit of the doubt.