John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. KJV

My daughter Catie was always a well liked child; wherever she went she was accepted and loved.

Now that she is grown with daughters of her own, Catie is still friends with so many people and everyone loves to come to her parties, because she is so outgoing and loves people. She loves giving parties and she is very good at it. As a mother it makes me proud to have her as my daughter. Catie was always a good mother to her two girls even though she worked outside the home the whole time they were growing up. She always made time for them and took them to many different places and events. They never lacked love and attention from Catie or her husband Ken, who was and still is a very good father.

When Catie was in the second grade in school, she had a very difficult teacher. No matter what she did, she could not please Ms Green (not her real name). Quite often she came home from school crying because Ms Green had hurt her feelings. She said, “Mom, I don’t like that teacher, she’s mean.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Because she is; everything I do is wrong,” Catie replied.

It went on like that for quite some time and I thought she would get over it; that Ms Green would get to know her and everything would be alright.

However, it didn’t work out that way. One day Catie came home and she was very upset.

She wanted to change classes. None of her other teachers had ever treated her like Ms Green did. She got along with all of them. But for some reason Ms Green did not like my daughter. I knew there must be something going on that was not what it appeared to be.

At the time, I was not living for the Lord and my prayer life was minimal. But somehow He always was there watching over me and my family. The wisdom I had in this situation came from Him, not of myself. No mother was ever so bereft of knowledge than I was when it came to raising children and knowing what to do in a particular situation. I often think what my life would have been if I had been living for the Lord and obeying Him in these times in my life. There is absolutely no doubt it would have been a world of difference.

I told my daughter, “Why don’t you be nice to Ms Green,” I said, “try to help her in every way you can. There has to be something that we don’t know about going on in her life. Maybe there is a problem or illness that is causing her to be so irritable.”

A few weeks later Catie came home from school and she was bubbling over with enthusiasm. I asked her what she was so happy about and she laughed and said, “Mom you were right. I found out that Ms Green has a husband at home and she has to go home at lunch time and take care of him,” she paused long enough to catch her breath, “and he’s sick. Ms Green has to take care of him all the time. That’s why she is so crabby.”

I’m sure Ms Green loved her husband and was very concerned about him. She was not crabby because she had to take care of him, rather because he was so ill and she cared for him.

Of course, not realizing her circumstances we were hasty in jumping to conclusions. In her situation, I too would have been “crabby”. The Lord knew however.

Much later, I was visiting a friend who had become friends with Ms Green, due to some organization which they both belonged to. Ms Green’s husband passed away some time after this incident and the two of them, my friend Lil and Ms Green went on a trip to the Holy Land together and they were very good friends for many years. She often spoke to Lil of this incident involving my daughter Catie. She spoke very kindly about Catie.

My daughter was a different little girl after that incident. She was very content to stay in Ms Green’s class. When the school picnic was held at the city park, I met Ms. Green and we talked. “You have the sweetest little girl,” she exclaimed. “She is such a help to me.”

From that time on there was no more problem with Ms Green.

I have found many times when an individual is difficult to be around; very irritable and ill mannered, there is usually something bothering them, if one just takes the time and has enough compassion to care. That’s what makes the difference many times in how we get along with people.

The lesson to be learned here is, have compassion and show people you care. When they know someone cares, they will be more amiable and friendly.

I Peter 5:7 Cast all your cares on Him for He careth for you.

Nell Berry louis_berry@bellsouth.net

Bio: Nell is a mother of four, grandmother of nine and great grandmother of two, so far. She enjoys cooking for her family on special occasions, sewing, crocheting and knitting as well as writing poems/song lyrics and short stories. She and her husband of fifty-seven years until recently lived at Mark Twain Lake in Missouri where he pursued his hobby of building furniture from wood. If it can be built from wood, he can build it. He also loves to go fishing and his passion is duck hunting and goose hunting. They have moved from their home state of Missouri and now live in Alabama where they have joined their son, Nathan at his request in his ministry. He is missions director for HeartCry Missionary Society, under the auspices of First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals Alabama where they now attend and love the Church. Nathan left a lucrative position in medicine at the call of God on his life to join HeartCry.