Q: I’m a ten-year-old boy. At school some of the other kids in • my class pick on me and take my things without asking. I don’t want to get in a fight, so I usually don’t do anything back. But that only seems to make things worse for me. What can I do?
A: You’ve made a wise decision not to fight back. Proverbs • 20:22 says: «Do not say, pay you back for this wrong!’ Wait for the LORD, and he will avenge you.» So if you can’t fight back, what should you do? Kill them with kindness!
We heard a story recently about a family who moved onto a farm next to a mean old man. For years he had scared away every family who had lived in the farmhouse before them. Now the old guy was doing every evil thing he could think of to run the new family off. He cut their water lines, killed their dog, and broke the fence so their cows would get out.
How do you think the family responded? Well, every time the man did something mean they simply repaid him with kindness. They baked bread and left it on his doorstep, painted his house and weeded his garden while he was away, and helped him out of the mud when he got stuck. Finally, the man couldn’t stand it any longer. «You’re killing me!» he said. «Every time I do something mean, you treat me nicely. I can’t take it!» From that point on they became the best of friends. Get the idea? See if it works for you.