I was waiting patiently in the closet directly outside of the bathroom in the house where I grew up. The only audible noises were the sounds of me breathing and someone occupying the bathroom. Suddenly, the bathroom door swung open leaving me with a brief window of time to attack the person exiting. Not wanting to miss the perfect chance, I sprung from the closet and screamed as loud as I knew how finding myself face to face with the occupant…my dad. Uncharacteristically, a look of fear came across his face as he jumped back two or three steps before he realized that his “attacker” was none other than his eldest son, me. There was really nothing to fear about my five foot four, ninety-nine pound body frame, but the element of surprise was enough to scare the fear of God into him. In a house with three teenage sons, my mom and dad were constantly dealing with the cool factor and part of being cool was having the ability to scare the mess out of each other. Hiding in closets, under beds, and in dark rooms to find our next victim was common place in our home; however, scaring dad was next to impossible…until my great victory. I began laughing uncontrollably and pointing my finger in his face while gloating about the look of fear on his face. Instead of laughing along, he simply looked at me and said, “It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, it may not be next week, but I WILL get you back” and then he walked away. My laughing immediately turned to panic because I knew that my dad never lies. I spent the next few days watching my back and living in constant fear until I eventually thought he had forgotten. He hadn’t.
Since I was a teenager working at our local grocery store, my boss usually scheduled me to work the closing shift which landed me home around 11:00pm or after. I stepped out of my rockin’, red Chevy Beretta and made my way to the front door of our house, but as I fumbled for my keys to unlock the door, I heard a slight rustling in the bushes. Before I could reach for my mace (just kidding), a giant man came pouncing out of the bushes screaming “Rooooooooooooooooooar!” Without thinking, I jumped off the porch and began running (in mid-air) toward the street screaming like a little girl, that is, until I heard my dad laughing uncontrollably.
Expect your actions toward others to be repeated on you also.
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you… (Matthew 7:12). When Jesus spoke these words, He was revealing the importance of treating others the way you want to be treated. Want love? Show love. Want respect? Show respect. Want attention? Show attention.
So, if you feel as if everyone is treating you badly, you might want to change the way you are treating them.
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