Christian Living

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Poison
©
by

Stephen A. Peterson

In the summer of 2003, a young woman named Laura was married. She went to live with her husband who lived just two houses away from his mother in Seminole, Oklahoma. Within weeks of her marriage, Laura found that she could not get along with her mother-in-law at all. Laura’s beliefs about how a wife should relate to her husband, her view with regards to the spending of family funds and relating to in-laws were very different from those of her mother-in-law. In addition, Laura did not like her husband giving his mother any money. She (Laura) openly criticized her husband’s behavior in this regard to anyone who would listen to her. Reluctantly, her husband stopped giving his mother money in deference to the wishes of his wife whom he loved unconditionally.

Months passed then years, yet Laura and her mother-in-law never worked through their relational differences. Finally, Laura could not stand her mother-in-law any longer. She decided to do something about it.

Laura decided to visit with one of her childhood friends who lived in nearby Oklahoma City. She spent half a day with her friend. During her visit, Laura told her the situation and asked her what she thought she should do. Her friend told her that her husband’s mother was so old that no one would suspect anything if something suddenly happened to her--- meaning her death. At first Laura was very hesitant but eventually agreed that this was the best way to deal with her problem.

Her friend agreed to help her with her problem but she told Laura that she had to do exactly what she told her to do. In a few minutes Laura’s friend returned to her living room with a package that looked like tea. She explained to Laura that she should cook for her mother-in-law everyday for three months putting in the food just a teaspoon of the herb she had given her. After about three months, according to her friend, the old woman would be dead—her problem solved! Laura was told that no one would suspect that she had been poisoned. Her friend went on to tell her that she needed to act friendly, kind and be in control of her emotions when she was around her mother-in-law so that no one would suspect her of anything. Laura took the poison, thanked her friend and quickly left for her home in Seminole, Oklahoma.

Days then weeks went by and Laura served her mother-in-law food dishes with the poison as instructed. She also kept in mind what her friend had told her—that is, to be friendly towards her mother-in-law. After two and half months passed, Laura had not lost her temper, said any evil words or was abusive towards her mother-in-law. Once Laura stopped saying evil things about her mother-in-law and treating her with kindness, the old woman seemed a much kinder and easier person to get along with.

Laura’s mother-in-law’s attitude began to change as well. She began to regard and love Laura like a daughter telling her relatives and friends how nice a person Laura was. Her mother-in-law told others that Laura was the best daughter-in-law among all of her sons’ wives she had. She praised Laura for being an excellent husband to her son, a great housekeeper and an excellent cook—even better than herself.

Laura came to know all of the positive and good things about her mother-in-law. She came to learned that her mother-in-law was a kind, generous and loving woman who went out of her way to accommodate Laura needs when they arose. Laura saw things in her mother-in-law that she had never seen when she was constantly fighting with her. Laura and her mother-in-law became the best of friends. They went shopping together. They learned that they really did enjoy the same foods, shared many similar interests and some of the same problems. Before long when Laura had a problem, she would go to her mother-in-law in confident to talk things over. Laura came to love her mother-in-law beyond her wildest imagination to the point they were able to laugh and cry when something hurt one or the other.

Just before the end of the third month, Laura made a trip back to her friend’s house in Oklahoma City with a new request. “Ann, please help me! I don’t want to kill my mother-in-law! She’s such a wonderful woman! She is the mother I never had! My mom died when I was only three! I don’t want her to die! I want her to live! Please, help me do something! Do you have something you can give me to reverse the poison?”

Ann smiled and nodded her head. “Laura, you have nothing to fear. I never gave you any poison. I gave you a mixture of parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme and ground vitamins that were designed to improve her health. The only poison was in your heart and mind. Much of your problems with people have been there since we were little. You have always seemed unwilling to change your attitude towards people. You wanted them to do whatever it is that you want people to do. As you have now learned, blind hatred can bar the true nature of people and the possibility of love.”

Jesus, from His very own lips exhorted us to remove the beam from our own eye to see clearly those we claim to dislike, even worse, hate. Like Laura, if we just change how we relate to one another, we might be surprised how much better others would be and how much better WE would be! We must love one another as Christ loves us. Love is never what we can get out of a relationship. Love is the sacrifice we make such that others’ needs are greater than our own as Laura ultimately found out. Jesus loved us so much that He willingly went to the cross, suffered and died for our sake. Even if we were the only person, He would have given His life for only YOU. Think about that the next time you show dislike or hatred towards another person!

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