Retaliation

This reminds me of the old story—supposedly true—about some soldiers who were living off base during the Korean War. They hired a local houseboy to do cooking and cleaning and other odd jobs for them, but they also took delight in playing tricks on him—just for meanness.

One morning when the boy got up and put on his slippers, he awkwardly fell forward to the ground—his shoes had been nailed to the floor. One night when he crawled into bed, he found shaving cream under his pillow. But no matter what pranks the soldiers pulled—whether short-sheeting his bed or setting buckets of water over his door—he always appeared to respond without much visible anger. "That's okay," he would say.

Finally, the young men realized they'd been inhumane in their treatment of the boy. They went to him and apologized. "We're sorry for what we've been doing to you. It won't happen again."

"You no more nail shoes to the floor?" No.

"You no more short-sheet bed? No more shave cream under pillow?" That's right.

A little smile crept across the boy's lips. Then he said,

"Okay. Then me no more spit in soup."

Not returning evil for evil

or insult for insult,

but giving a blessing instead;

for you were called for the very purpose

that you might inherit a blessing.

1 PETER 3:9

-Live Productively