What you go through to get through

Last night, I picked up Tracy Morgan's autobiography titled, "I Am The New Black" and read it from 11:00 PM till about 1:30 in its completion. It was a fun read, though a tad vulgar (and by tad, i mean Dirty South Hip-Hop vulgar). One of the things I took from it was what he had to go through to get through to where he is now as a person, performer and parent. His life was hard (dad died of AIDS, broken relationship with his mom, drug dealer, etc.) but in each trial and bad decision, he learned something about himself and used the experience to help him move forward or get through to his 'now'.
I thought for awhile this morning about things I've gone through as a kid, teen and adult. I thought about the people I worked with and what they may have gone through in their own lives...some grimy stuff, heartbreak, loss...I thought about the people I minister too and what they have gone through to get to where they are now, striving to be a healthy person led by His Spirit.
It's hard to judge people when we don't know their story, is it not? Yet we do it all the time. Kid with ADD is just loud and obnoxious, though we don't care to know about his home life. The girl who seems easy is just plain easy but we don't care to know about her lack of encouragement growing up. The dad who seems mean and inconsiderate is just that but we don't care to learn about the habits he simply picked up from his own dad. The one with bad finances is just that, though we don't care to learn about their lack of teaching.
Everyone has to go through mud before coming out clean and ready on the other side. No one is immune to it. We've all gone through life, haven't we? And hopefully, we can look back now and see what we've learned, accomplished and changed to make us better people and more available to help others. The mud keeps us humble, hoping and trusting that God will bring us out...and always on time, He does.
This week, let's all take time to learn one another's story...and learn about their journey from point A to point "wherever it takes them".