How to handle your enemies

If you will allow me to indulge you for a few moments, I want to brag on my second oldest daughter Reynolds. Earlier this week I posted a blog about belonging and told the story of how there were girls in her class at school that included everyone in their girls' club but her. As it turns out, Kellie and I were scheduled to go into Reynolds' class yesterday to help out her teacher with all of the Christmas crafts that they were trying to finish up. While there I was able to spot the ringleader for the girls' club, the one who specifically excluded my daughter. We shall call this girl "student x."

I made it my point to engage student x in pleasant conversation and it didn't take me long to realize that she was indeed a rather mean little girl. She even looked mean, with that kind of "I'll-chew-you-up-and-spit-you-out" look about her. Of course Kellie and I did nothing to portray any animosity toward her; that wasn't my plan. My plan was to build up my daughter to student x so that she could see exactly how cool she truly is. However, Reynolds beat me to the punch.

The teacher asked me to be the "banker" for the class, which means that I was to dole out "reindeer bucks" to the students so that they could purchase various craft items. Since I was the banker and Reynolds was my child, the teacher let Reynolds go first, which apparently was a pretty high privilege. After she got her money from the bank Reynolds was told to pick another student to go next. Guess who she picked? Student x. Yes, my daughter immediately thought to reach out with kindness to the girl in her class that appeared to dislike her for no reason at all. Kellie and I were floored by this.

I'll be honest, I would have been tempted to deny this other little girl any money at all. But my daughter chose to obey the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 5:44: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." She handled her enemy in the exact way that our Lord handled His - she loved them.

Proverbs 25:21-22 is an amazing couple of verses that illustrates this even further: "If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; for you will heap coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you." There is no doubt that student x was covered in hot coals yesterday; I could see it all over her face. She had been won over by kindness and love at the hands of a girl who is not quite seven. As a parent I couldn't have been more proud and as a follower of Christ I couldn't have been more humbled or convicted. My prayer is that I can follow the example of Christ as closely as my first grade daughter does.