Points to Ponder

A man traveling on a lonely country road got a flat tire. He found his spare in the trunk, but no jack. In the distance, he saw the lights of a farm house. He set off on foot toward the house to ask if he could borrow a jack.
After walking a while, he realized that the fields he was walking through probably belonged to the family in the farm house. He felt a little unsure as to how they might feel about a stranger cutting through their fields. But, with no other option before him, and the sunlight long behind him, he continued on.
A while later, the farm house lights turned off. "Oh great," he thought, "now I'll be getting the farmer out of bed." His imagination began to take flight, and he could just see the old farmer answering the door with a shotgun, and an unfriendly dog.
"It's not like I had a lot of options," the man thought defensively. And the more the man thought about the whole situation, and the more he imagined the farmer's cold greeting, the more he got upset.
Suddenly, he found himself pounding on the front door of the farm house. When the bleary-eyed farmer answered the door, the man shouted, "I don't want your %^*+#@ - >%^*+#@$# jack anyway!!!" And he turned on his heel and stalked back to his car.

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An old man sat on a park bench near the main square of the city. A couple approached him and asked, "Excuse us, but have you lived here long?"
The old man replied that he had lived in this town his whole life.
"Oh, that's great!" the couple replied, "You see, we're thinking of moving to this city, and are wondering if you could tell us what the people are like here."
"Well," replied the old man, "what are the people like in the town you're moving from?"
"Oh, they're just the most wonderful people you'll ever meet! We can hardly bear to move!"
"Oh," drawled the old man, "I think you'll find people to be about the same here."
"Oh, thank you! We just knew it!"

A short time later, another couple approached the old man, and asked the same questions, for the same reasons.
Again the old man inquired, "Well, what are the people like in the town you're moving from?"
"Oh, they're just awful! We can't wait to get out of that town and away from the lot of them!"
"Oh," drawled the old man again, "I think you'll find people to be about the same here."
"We had a feeling," they replied and went on their way.

A young fellow had overheard both of these exchanges, and couldn't help but to ask the old man, "Why is it that you gave each couple such different answers??"
The old man thought for a moment and then replied, "It's my experience that your life is really a mirror of what is inside. I actually gave them both the same answer. What is different is what is inside of each of them."

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In Mormon's parting words he counsels, "Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been."

We ALL have imperfections. When we are made aware of someone else's imperfections, do we condemn them, or do we thank God for showing us so that we may learn to be more wise?