Double Standards

   The context of James :2 echoes the lament of the world today...double standards!! The distinction between the rich and the poor...just how many have cried that the world  judge and treated them by the amount of glitters they have on them....and yet they too, were just as guilty of practicing those very  double standards they  claimed to so  detest??.  

The automatic "look over..." quick scrutiny, we subjected others  when they approached us in the office, functions and places of happenings etc...maybe  even at religious gatherings??!!..the better dressed, the more affluent , the better known...are often given better treatment..., wide smiles and honeyed tones while the  shabbily dressed and meek looking are treated with less friendly demeanor and careless attitude???.   Now, I do not know about you, I do not know if you would be brave enough to own up....but as I listened to the words of St.James: 2, this morning, ...I had one or two flash backs of such incidences.. events, when I was a staff member.......the titled -Datos and Datin snapped   everyone to attention ,  the ordinary man on the street......got the ordinary treatment and the lesser looking,  the lesser treatment....And yet, how often do we cry ourselves sick .. Double standards !! - Don't we do that as well????  If we,  the ordinary people,  do not practice loving neighbor as ourselves...in ALL equality, that is... (In case you are not aware..we can practice  selective loving ; loving neighbor selectively , as well , )......then the   rhythmic beats of " double standards"   will continue  to drum on  insatiability. 

Do not draw distinctions and  refrain from passing judgements-of  appearance and material worth that is....Actually the Letters of  James does invoke an inner examination of self but then, really, it is not so easy to keep on the right track all the time....Humans that we are, let us pray, we remember that "flowers of the grass will pass away, because the sun rises with his scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls and its beauty perishes." James 1:11. This Writer- like that quote very much indeed, because it reminds her to be logical and not  be swayed  by physical beauty and anything that  disappears with time..Someone once told this writer, he is too dark, and she detected a slight twinge of regret there...but really,  inner beauty and worth, is best and she would go for those qualities anytime.  So would anyone with an ounce of  wisdom and fore-sight. Those qualities come  with added value and beauty as time advances...like good wine. ...

Let us reflect on the matters of the soul a little more and the  material aspect a little less....  To this Writer, that would be enough ...let love  grow naturally, constantly and consistently, without pressure. Do not try to perfect the face of Goodness over much lest you become too fatigue and wither away......It is better to  accept our own limitations .. and try to improve.....that way, we will not tire ourselves needlessly, trying to keep up with standards and  then give up altogether...but allow our goodness  to grow at comfortable pace that we keep on gathering strength...and remain steadfast  as active doers.and people of substance as we  journey on..