Monday Musings

Another new week rolls in and I'm so happy the temperatures have warmed up and the flowers have started to bloom! I hope spring has visited wherever you live. :o) Today I want to talk about that old saying "never judge a book by its cover."

I'm sure you've heard it before. I know I have. I've even said it - multiple times - to my sons. Still I've been guilty of it myself. Haven't you? Either you don't even glance at the book with the plain cover (that may or may not have the masterpiece of the century inside) and we oooh and ah at the one with the gorgeous cover that may or may not be worthless even as a paperweight. Sometimes we even misjudge the content of the book because of the cover. This is unfortunate (and as an aspiring writer I can tell you that authors cringe at that thought because most of them have nearly nothing to do with their cover art).

I've told you before that I'm not the biggest fan of war books so when I picked up a bag of "classics" that included a dog-eared copy of North and South and saw this forlorn scene (knowing nothing about the book), I didn't even read the back cover, I just put it off to the side and never read it. I just knew I didn't want to read a sad story about the Civil war (you can laugh at me, it's okay).

You also know I'm a HUGE Jane Austen fan and one of my groups was doing a side read and they were comparing North and South to Pride and Prejudice. What? I was confused and intrigued. Not enough to read the book, yet - but it just so happened that the movie came on PBS and I was able to watch it. They were right! I was wrong... I suddenly went on a search for that book (it's still packed). I bought the DVD for that movie though. It's a totally different story than I thought. I shouldn't have judged it by the cover.

We do that with people too. Someone may have a weight problem and we think they just sit around and eat all day. Maybe we judge because they have money or they live in a nice neighborhood so we think they don't have any problems. Maybe they attend a different church so we think they don't love God as much as we do. People are different and have all kinds of situations that we may not understand. We have to look beneath the cover and get to know them and try to see them the way that God would want us to. If we were all the same the world would be a pretty boring place and it wouldn't work the way it does. We need the strength that comes from the differences.

From the time I was in elementary school until now I've had a problem being almost painfully shy - especially in crowds of new people. Many times it was misunderstood as being stuck up because I was always off by myself and very quiet. I wish people hadn't judged me by my cover - and they'd taken the time to get to know the real me. It wasn't until much later that I found out what the problem was. Someone took a chance and got to know me. Since then I've tried to not only be more aware of my own problem but that other people might have "false covers" too. I try to pass the grace more often than condemnation.

Have a great week ~ and if you get a chance to read or watch North and South you should definitely do so, it's a great story! :o)