There’s Always More to the Story

This morning our pastor shared a story in his sermon… he shared about a man who would go to his church every Sunday, sit on the very front row, and without fail, he would fall asleep. Of course this agitated the pastor of this church, who would be preaching and then have to look out and see this man sleeping through his sermon, right under his nose.

But of course there’s more to the story. Turns out the man had cancer and was experiencing a side effect from some of his medication. This man loved his church and really wanted to hear God’s word. So he made every effort to show up, despite what he was dealing with.

With most people, there’s always more to their story. There’s always more to someone than what our eyes can see or what we think we know about someone and their circumstances. Just like this man, it’s easy to assume many things about why he was falling asleep on the front row of his church and be annoyed… but there was much more to his story and learning the man’s “why” and instead, it leaves you feeling tender towards him.

But isn’t that the case with most people in life? We fill in the blanks about person and their “why” only that there is usually so much more to their story. Sometimes we learn another person’s ‘why’ but more often than not, we don’t.

It was just a reminder to me not to judge or fill in the blanks about someone’s life based on a small glimpse of what I see- there is a grace, a tenderness and kindness that God longs for us to extend towards others, because I know that God has certainly extended all of those things to me!