“If I am what he says I am, then I will be troubled and try to correct myself.

If I am not as he says I am, I am still troubled because I think that I must have erred in some other way; that somehow I was careless and provoked him.  I do not lay blame on the other person.

I examine how God will judge what I have done, not how I will be seen by others.”

- St Paisios, V. 3 pgs 154-155.

Reflection:

When someone points out something we may have done wrong, whether accurate or not, how do we react?  

We might become defensive, we might blame others and assign no fault to ourselves. Blame is often the result of the shame we feel. In these instances, we choose to look outward instead of inward for a solution(1). Instead we should be honest with ourselves about our thoughts/actions and strive to make things according to God's vantage point.

If we take the approach noted in St Paisios' quote, we will be sure to grow and make progress with every person we encounter.  We cannot change other people, but with God’s help we can improve ourselves. 

Let us examine our interactions from how God will judge them rather than how other people do.  This way the result of examining our inner selves will be growth, maturity, and peaceful progress in the relationships in our lives.

Resources:

1) Matthew 7:3-5 “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”