Perceptions Part Two

So this lesson that Heavenly Father seemed to want me to learn carried on into my university class last night.  I am taking an Elementary Education Language Arts class so that I can teach children all they need to know to be successful in the English Language Arts classroom.  Yesterday our teacher asked ourselves to line ourselves up at the front of the classroom from we love writing, feel confident in our finished product to I hate writing and don't feel confident at all in what I produce.  I of course, chose the side where I love writing... can't you tell from my blog haha! because of the fact that it helps me to process my thoughts and feelings.  I don't always feel confident in what I produce for university because of how harsh professors are but on my own writing is one of my friends.

But what got me and taught me a huge lesson yesterday was when I looked at the other end of the line.  There stood my friend who has high grades in school.  She works hard and always excels in university.  Her grades sit at A's constantly so why was it that she had placed herself so far down on the end of the line.  Again it was a moment of reflection for me, and I thought to myself: how many times do we pass judgements or have certain perceptions of people without really knowing the big picture?

Here was a girl I have known for the past two years who loves school, succeeds at an awe inspiring rate and continues on with a positive attitude in any assignment she receives to have such a hate for writing.  It reminded me of many times where I made perceptions without really knowing the full picture.  When I was younger I wished my family was more like another family.  A few months ago I used to wish that my marriage was like another couple's marriage but I have learned that what we see and what really happens are two different things.

My mom always taught me that there is always something going on behind closed doors, meaning that we never know the true account of someone's life.  I understood this to be true for people I didn't know, but I think my momma was really trying to teach me it for all people we know and don't know alike.  It reminds me of the story, "To Kill a Mocking Bird" when Atticus teaches Scout, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."  So I have learned that we can never go assuming anything about anyone else unless we have the opportunity to walk around in their skin which is highly unlikely.

Perceptions are something that can be a hinderance or a great help to us in the way we use it.  I have learned that this life is a trial for all of those who come to it even if we truly don't know what is going on.  But I have learned that I need to be careful in the perceptions that I make that I can always turn to a precious loving Father in Heaven to be able to understand when I struggle to see from another's point of view rather than rely on my own.

There will be days where we all struggle and I guess in a way I am grateful to know that everyone has bad days and struggles, and it is how we choose to handle those situations that will really define who we are.