Two weeks ago I received the little piece of paper that all American citizens love to grumble about: the jury duty summons. Trial by a fair and impartial jury of your peers is a great cornerstone of our Constitution and our country however it doesn’t always feel so great when you are one of the peers called upon.
For some reason, I tend to be a jury summons magnet. They draw it like they draw lotto numbers-totally at random. I must be random because I have received more of those silly slips of paper than I can even count! My husband has received two and never had to report. I have received countless and had to report at least three times in the past three years alone.
Thankfully most of the times I have received the summons, when I call the night beforehand as instructed they have canceled the trial and I don’t have to report. Last night however, I was greeted with the recording, “Please report for jury duty.” Sigh, okay.
You have to understand I do find all things government and law based fascinating under normal circumstances. But there is something about sitting in a hot, tiny courtroom on a gorgeous day while 7 months pregnant that takes a LOT of the fascination about the process out of me!
Sorry, I realize this sounds like me just whining about my day. Thankfully, I was not one of the chosen 12 to be seated on the jury and was allowed to leave after three hours. But in those three hours I was struck again by how amazingly real justice is. A good and honest judge cannot overlook wrong doing. Watching as the judge and the lawyers decided who would best make a truly impartial juror for this particular case re-instilled in me the fact that God built this love of justice into us, His image-bearing creation. We want justice to be served. We want the right and fair decision to be made. We want to know who is guilty and who is innocent.
There were all types of walks and backgrounds and such of people in that courtroom today. To put it mildly, we were an assorted bunch. But as the day dragged on it was apparent that we had some basic fundamental “something” inside of each of us that made us want what was best to make sure true justice happened. For some of those being questioned, it meant being honest and saying they wouldn’t be able to impartial due to some part of their history. (It was a criminal drunk driving case which obviously evoked lots of feelings in people one way or another.) For others, it was them stating that they were certain they could be impartial and listen to all the evidence.
Basically, I caught a few little glimpses of God today in His creation in a new way. And once again, as always when I glimpse God’s creation in us humans, I just have my breath taken away! He truly is a great God who loves truth and justice and gave us just a little piece of Himself in that way as well. Let’s just take a moment to praise Him!
Thanks for stopping by!
Ambitions for Christ 