Proceeds of Love
LOVE PROTECTS US FROM STRIFE AND PROVIDES FOR PEACEFUL RELATIONSHIPS.
Bible Reading of the Day: Read Proverbs 10:11-12.
Verse of the Day: “Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love covers all offenses” (Proverbs 10:12).
Trudy plopped onto the school bus seat beside her friend Abby. She leaned across Abby and peered out the window.
“There goes Jaclyn Kayliss,” Trudy said. She glared at a girl walking past the line of school buses. “She got kicked off her bus again.”
“What for?” Abby asked.
“What for?” Trudy echoed. “Abby, this is Jaclyn Kayliss we’re talking about.” Trudy rolled her eyes when she saw Abby’s blank look. “She got in a big fight on the bus this morning, her and Bobby Marshall duking it out like a couple of boxers.”
“Really?” Abby said. She shook her head as she watched Jaclyn disappear around the comer of the school building.
“What’s wrong?” Trudy asked, responding to Abby’s sad expression.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Abby said. “I guess I just feel bad for Jaclyn.”
“You feel bad for Jaclyn?” Trudy said. “Jaclyn Kayliss?” she repeated.
Abby shrugged as the school bus doors closed. “Yeah, why?”
“Come on, Abby, she gets into more fights than anybody in the whole school.”
Abby inclined her head to one side in an expression of bemusement. “She’s always been nice to me,” she said.
“Of course she’s nice to you. It’s like you love everybody in the world.”
“I’m so sorry,” Abby said sarcastically. “I should try not to get along with other people so much—is that what you’re saying?”
“No,” Trudy answered. “You know what I mean. Of course Jaclyn Kayliss is going to like you—you’re probably the only person in the school that doesn’t hate her.”
Abby looked at her friend thoughtfully. “Well, that ought to tell you something right there,” she said. “If you love others, you’re not just doing them good, you’re doing yourself good too. . . . Hatred just causes problems and arguments. Love prevents a lot of problems and stuff.”
“I guess I never thought of it that way,” Trudy said.
“Maybe that’s why God tells us to love each other, Trudy,” Abby said. “Because he knows loving others is a lot better for us.”
“I guess he should know, right?” Trudy suggested. Abby nodded and smiled. “Yeah,” she said.
TO DO: Make a family “covenant” to speak words of love to each other in order to promote peaceful relationships.
TO PRAY: “God, thank you for the wisdom of your commands. Remind us that your commands are given to us for our own good. Help us to see the many ways love protects us and provides for us, and help us to obey your command to ‘love one another’ more and more.”