A story on the theme of Matthew 5.43-48

Theme:  Learning to love ALL - pushes us toward the perfection God desires for us

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Betsy’s head jerked back and she cried, “Ouch!”  This time it wasn’t because her long braid had gotten caught in her desk chair and when she leaned forward, it pulled her head back. It was because someone had yanked on her braid. As she was turning around to see who it was she was saying to herself, “I’m sure it was that mean Janey.” Sure enough Janey had done it, but then she had moved far enough away that if Betsy reached out to hit her, her teacher would certainly see her and scold her.

Why was Janey’s being so mean to her, Betsy wondered. She couldn’t think of any reason. Yesterday, Janey had hidden in a doorway and when Betsy was coming through she stuck out her leg and tripped Betsy and Betsy had dropped all her books and papers and sprawled out on the floor and made everyone around laugh at her clumsiness. She hardly wanted to remember what Janey had done to her the day before and the day before that.

It got so that every day all she could think of was how angry she was at Janey and how she was going to try to get back at her. She got scolded by her teacher for not paying attention. Her other friends didn’t want to be with her. She was no fun. And it wasn’t her fault!

That day when she got home from school, she told her mom what was happening. Her mom asked her if she knew what forgiveness was. Yes, Betsy said that they’d been learning about it in Sunday School. It was when you said that you would let go of all your anger at someone who had hurt you. Sometimes you even did it even if they didn’t apologize. It was something that Jesus did a lot when people tried to hurt him. For some reason it helped you be happier after you had done it and not let your anger ruin your life, even if the people hurting you tried to ruin your life.

That night, as Betsy was lying in bed before she went to sleep, she had a long talk with Jesus about how she wanted to forgive Janey, both so that she wouldn’t do something to really hurt Janey, but also because she didn’t want the teacher to scold her or her friends to avoid her because she was always thinking about how she could get back at Janey. But she would need Jesus help. She felt like he promised to help her and that felt good because she knew Jesus knew what it was like to forgive people who were hurting you -- who were your enemies. And she wanted to be like Jesus.

This is where I’m inclined to end the story, but I’ve created another ending that shows some more resolution.

Janey didn’t stop doing mean things to Betsy the next day, but Betsy didn’t get so angry and she didn’t let those mean things ruin her time with her friends. In fact, they started to protect her from Janey. Eventually Janey stopped being mean to Betsy and sometimes was even nice to her.

Prayer:  Thanks, God, for forgiving me when I hurt you and for helping me forgive other people who hurt me.  Amen.