p. 13 | If We Only Understood

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 17, 1913

If We Only Understood

COULD we but draw back the curtains That surround each other's lives, See the naked heart and spirit, Know what spur the action gives, Often we should find it better, Purer, than we judge we should; We should love each other better If we only understood.

Could we judge all deeds by motives, See the good and bad within, Often we should love the sinner All the time we loathe the sin. Could we know the powers working To o'erthrow integrity, We should judge each other's errors With more patient charity.

If we knew the cares and trials, Knew the efforts all in vain, And the bitter disappointment, Understood the loss and gain— Would the grim, external roughness Seem, I wonder, just the same? Should we help where now we hinder, Should we pity where we blame?

Ah, we judge each other harshly, Knowing not life's hidden force; Knowing not the fount of action Is less turbid at its source. Seeing not amid the evil All the golden grains of good: Ah! we'd love each other better If we only understood.

—Woman's Work.