In his novel The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald penned a sentence that begged serious reflection: “Reserving judgment is a matter of infinite hope.”

One of the most common and destructive ways we judge is to put people in boxes by pinning them with labels.

As a young preacher in Mississippi in the early ‘60s, I was labeled a liberal because of my stand on civil rights.  When I left Mississippi and moved to southern California, I was soon labeled a conservative because I was evangelistic in my preaching and had a southern accent.

In both instances the labels were limiting.  People heard me out of their own preconceptions of who I was and what I stood for.

When we reserve judgment, we’re saying, “There’s more to you than I now perceive.  I will wait and be patient.  I will seek to see clearly.  I will not limit you with a label.”

Fitzgerald is right.  “Reserving judgment is a matter of infinite hope.”