Over the next few months, many of us will take dips in pools and head to lakes, rivers or any other body of water that we can swim in…but I also fear we are going to be prone to swim in the waters of assumption and judgments this summer, too. And the currents found in these dangerous waters are ones that lead us further away from love and grace, and have the ability to drown friendships and relationships if we are not careful.
There have been a lot of trending words and phrases since the start of 2020; words that would not have made complete sense to us just a half a year ago: social distancing, new normal, flattening the curve, 6 feet apart. I believe as we begin to come out of the haze and fog of this Corona Virus, one of the words that may not be talked about often, but needs to be in the forefront of our minds, is the word “assumption”.
Assumption: a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof.
It’s easy to make assumptions, isn’t it? It’s easy to see or hear something and assume we know the whole story and go on our merry way thinking we have all the facts. We accept our perceived reality as actual reality and begin to make judgements based on what we believe happened. And, because we still live in bodies of flesh and battle pride and our own sin each and every day, we are prone to think the worst of others, not the best. We are prone to doubt the motives and actions of others, to not give them the benefit of the doubt. We become judge and jury.
“The one who gives an answer before he listens – this is foolishness and disgrace for him.” (Proverbs 18:13)
