Love Your Enemies

“Miss Caldwell, Joey is driving me nuts. I told him to stop and he won’t stop. He’s pretending like he can’t hear me. So, I told him, ‘I’m going to tell the teacher,’ and he said, ‘Go ahead! See if I care!’”

“Hey, this is your chance to practice. How can you treat him kindly?”

“NO WAY. No. Not gonna do it. I’ll just ignore him or something.”

“Come on, Jenny. Think with me. How can you reach out to the person who bothers you the most? Can you compliment him? Say, ‘Hey, Joey! You are really doing great with Math today!’”

“Noooooo! Miss Caldwell, that is SO awkward.”

“Okay. Um, does he need anything right now? Can you help out or something?”

“Well, he doesn’t get how to find the Math game website, but that’s why he was bugging me already.”

“There you go! Seriously. Try helping him. I’ll sit here and watch what happens. This may soften his heart or change your attitude. Just try.”

“Ugh! Okay! I’m taking Becca with me though.”
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My students have been struggling to get along lately. It’s become Tattle Fest 2011. They write me post-it notes describing each incident and put them in a basket on my desk. They even tattle in pre-emptive anticipation of being ratted out. “Riley is plotting something against me so I had to shut him out of the game. I didn’t have a choice.”

It made for some frustrating days at school. The kids and I spent a long time discussing our unsettled environment at a recent class meeting. They were too upset to agree on any resolutions. At one point, I offered a suggestion, “You know, there’s a saying that talks about being kind to your enemies…”
“No!” they were adamantly against the idea. We ended the meeting with a goal to come up with more ideas overnight and discuss again the next day.

The next morning, I brought it before the Lord. I felt like He encouraged me with respect to one particular student and also gave me a sense of peace about the rest. When we held our class meeting that morning, out of nowhere, lots of kids suggested something to the effect of being kind to people that bug us. What??? Are these the same kids who almost booed me yesterday? Yep! They were convinced. November should be “Be nice to your enemy” month.

So, it stuck. The above dialogue shows some of the stretching that’s occurring in their precious hearts. And by precious, I mean precious. Not cute, but incredibly valuable. And, honestly, the Jenny / Joey interaction wasn’t a huge “Aha!” moment - at least not outwardly. They didn’t hug or skip around singing songs. Jenny told me helping Joey did nothing for her heart and it was “crazy hard to be nice to him”. I’m not convinced. I know my Lord. I have to believe that some piece of Jenny changed forever because she chose to love her enemy, rather than treat him in a way that felt justified. I choose to believe that my Lord has plans to prosper Jenny and He’s continuing that work with every fraction of an inch she takes toward His truth.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” –Matthew 5:43 – 45

(all names have been changed, except for mine :))