Judas

During this past week in my church, the name of Judas, the fellow who betrayed Jesus, came up a lot.  People would say, "Thank God, I am not like Judas.  I would never do that!"  No?  Don't we betray people all the time?  How many people are a gift in your life?  A gift means that you did not manipulate them into your life.  You did not plan it.  They show up and your life is so much better for them being here.  Do you say thank you?  Do you wake up with gratitude as one of your early morning thoughts and feelings?  So why don't we say "thank you" to these people in action as well as word?  Maybe because we are judging them to be NOT how they "should be" or we want them to be for our own selfish ends.  There are some people who are obvious gifts in my life, and I do say thank you.  But there are so many more people who are gifts in my life, and I am blinded to their goodness because I am judging them.  False pride gets in the way of enjoying more people in my life.  Maybe you too have this malady?