"What can you ever really know of other people's souls—of their temptations, their opportunities, their struggles? One soul in the whole creation you do know: and it is the only one whose fate is placed in your hands."
~ Mere Christianity
i don't know about anyone else...but...so often i think i know what is in someones..."soul"....what makes them react the way they do...or i assume i know what they might be thinking or feeling. i predicate all sort of opinion, reaction and choice upon those assessments....~ i allow it to alter my own feelings or emotions of the moment, or on any given subject~ or within any relationship. i will think all too easily" i know what they really meant"...and sometimes i even think i understand better than they understand themselves~this sort of flawed perception can change the foundation of a lifetime, and can sometimes hold me prisoner in a murky sea of oversensitivity and assumption.
since i was a small girl, i have had the habit when riding in a car at night, especially as a passenger, to look into the windows of the homes and apartments along the way~ peeking into the lighted open windows as i whisk by...wondering who is within...who they are? how long they lived there? who do they love..how will they die?... what are they like?....what is their life story?....and a myriad of other fantasy wonderings~ this is a creative thing...a whimsical speeding by car in my head storytelling....
deciding upon the life and composition of a soul in this way is harmless....however, when i transition this to my real life, and my actual encounters, those casual and deeply meaningful, it no longer is an extension of my active mind, but a presumptuous and serious error that can cause damage and discouragement to myself and others.
we cannot know the mind of God, nor can we know the essence of any soul, and exactly how and why God has knit their fibers to become the tapestry of who they are and how they are, in His eternal plan, meant to be~
as C.S. so wisely said....the truth is, it is all i can do to hold my own soul and fate...in my own hands. should i need to grasp at another soul... with those same hands..it should not be in expectation or assessment....rather,.....it should only be...as a gesture...... of extension of acceptance and grace~ <3
