How do you measure?

 

The other day, I came home from work and noticed that my autistic granddaughter had lost one of her front teeth. I asked her what happened to her tooth and her response was “Oops.” I turned to my son who told me that they thought she swallowed it. “Oops” for her, is when she thinks she did wrong and was in trouble. I told her not to worry, it would be ok as a new tooth would grow in. At three in the morning, I was awakened by my granddaughter at the side of my bed tugging on my sleeve. She kept asking, “New teeth?” One scripture passage that bothers me is this: Mark 4:24 “He also told them, “Take care what you hear. The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you and still more will be given to you.” I did not exercise the first part of the passage: Take care what you hear. I heard a normal 6-year-old and responded as such. When talking to an autistic child simplicity is best. All I needed to tell her was that she was ok, Oma loves her. Sometimes we measure or judge people without really hearing what’s going on. What bothers me about this passage is something the world needs to remember: “The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you…” Yes, how I judge others, that judgment and more will be mine. The thought of standing before God and being weighed and measured as I have weighed and measured is a sobering thought! The path is full of listening and judging. When we first take care to listen, I think our measure becomes clearer and more appropriate.  Judging can keep us safe, it can be helpful, but when we use it to condemn people, we must heed the words, of this passage and walk with compassion; treating others as we would like to be treated on the path….