All the things that you and the world say are unfortunate, how do you know they are not blessings? They may be blessings disguised or blessing deferred. When you have not yet read the whole book, how do you know with certainty how the book ends?

Even tears are a blessing. They are a blessing as much as laughter. Of course, you may prefer laughter when it rings pure joy, and yet what makes you so sure that laughter is good and tears of sorrow are not?

What if you had no judgments, had never made any, had never bought into any? What if you did not see good, and you did not see bad? What if you just saw? What if you just saw, and nothing was labeled wonderful or terrible? What if life could occur and not be labeled at all?

What if there were no words for lovely or unlovely? What if life were not rated on a scale and was, instead, taken as it comes?

You would neither push nor pull. No dams to life would be built. All tides would be welcome, and all tides would wash over you and be gone.

As it is, there are no tides you can stem.

When death of the body comes, it comes. When a loved one leaves you, he or she has left. When it rains, it rains. When the sun shines, the sun shines.

Of course, you can change you. You can change overnight. You can lose old thinking and gain new thinking. You can break old habits and learn new ones. You can come out of the shade and go into the sunlight.

This thing of judgment goes far deeper than you thought. Oh, if only you could judge not at all! How freed you would be! And you would free everyone around you.

No longer would disappointment exist. There would still be joy. Joy would continue to exist. Joy is quite natural. Who would not take joy at a dozen red roses? Or wonderful fresh baked bread hot from the oven? Or a grin from you?

Who would not welcome everyone and everything when there is no judgment attached?

All people would be treated alike.

All events.

All storms.

All picnics.

When judgment leaves, where would love be not?

Right now, whom would you rather follow, judgment or love? I know your answer. I know you would choose love. And, yet, you may not be quite ready to let go of judgment. It has hung on to you for so long. You may wonder how you would live without it.

You may well consider judgment the same as discernment. You may wonder why you have a brain at all unless you are able to make judgments.

Without judgment, you would still make choices. You would still have preferences. If someone offers you a chocolate brownie or a butterscotch brownie, your hand can reach out for your preference. You are not saying that one or the other is good or bad.

If someone offers you a bribe or a rifle, you can say no to either or to both. You do not have to judge the person who offers a bribe. In a moment of weakness, a human being offered something you wish he hadn't. You can choose to stay away from that person, and yet you can hold him in My light without judging or condemning him.

Judgment has been a bigger culprit than you realized. Judgment could be cutting your heart in two.