Judge Not

President Monson gave two of my favorite stories 

in one General Conference talk in October 2010.

Click Here to hear Pres. Monson's talk on Charity

I was so happy to see the first story made into a Mormon Message Video. 

I loved the good reminder of my own fault of judging others. 

Enjoy. 

Click here to watch Mormon Message: Judging Others

 I must have heard this second story at an impressionable age because it affected me deeply. It's about a man outwardly ravaged by illness but having a beautiful spirit inside who comes for hospital treatments and asks to stay with a kind hearted women. It helped me realize that developing a beautiful spirit can be of far more lasting value.

A woman by the name of Mary Bartels had a home directly across the street from the entrance to a hospital clinic. Her family lived on the main floor and rented the upstairs room to outpatients at the clinic. One evening a truly awful looking old man came to the door asking if there was room for him to stay the night. He was stooped and shriveled, and his face was lopsided from swelling-- red and raw. He said he’d been hunting for a room since noon but with no success. "I guess it's my face" he said. "I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says it could possibly improve after more treatments."  He indicated he’d be happy to sleep in the rocking chair on the porch. As she talked with him, Mary realized this little old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. Although her rooms were filled, she told him to wait in the chair and she'd find him a place to sleep. 

At bedtime Mary’s husband set up a camp cot for the man. When she checked in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and he was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, he asked if he could return the next time he had a treatment. “I won’t put you out a bit,” he promised. “I can sleep fine in a chair.” Mary assured him he was welcome to come again.

www.berrycart.com

In the several years he went for treatments and stayed in Mary’s home, the old man, who was a fisherman by trade, always had gifts of seafood or vegetables from his garden. Other times he sent packages in the mail. When Mary received these thoughtful gifts, she often thought of a comment her next door neighbor made after the disfigured, stooped old man had left Mary's home that first morning. "Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away. You can lose customers by putting up such people." Mary knew that maybe they had lost customers once or twice, but she thought, “Oh, if only they could have known him, perhaps their illnesses would have been easier to bear.”

After the man passed away, Mary was visiting with a friend who had a greenhouse. As she looked at her friend’s flowers, she noticed a beautiful golden chrysanthemum but was puzzled that it was growing in a dented, old, rusty bucket. Her friend explained, “I ran short of pots, and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn’t mind starting in this old pail. It’s just for a little while, until I can put it out in the garden.”

Mary smiled as she imagined just such a scene in heaven. “Here’s an especially beautiful one,” God might have said when He came to the soul of the little old man. “He won’t mind starting in this small, misshapen body.” But that was long ago, and in God’s garden how tall this lovely soul must stand! ³ 
(Adapted from Mary Bartels, “The Old Fisherman,” Guideposts, June 1965, 24–25.)

Appearances can be so deceiving, such a poor measure of a person. Admonished the Savior, “Judge not according to the appearance.” 

A modern twist to this story of focusing more on the spirit inside is told in a song by Colbie Callait called "Try". Click here to listen to Colbie Caillat sing Try