Fruit Roll-up

A co-worker of mine just told me a story that he remembered from the fourth grade.

He started off that his mom would daily pack his lunch and include a fruit roll up.  Those are a big deal to kids.  I never got a fruit roll up in my lunches but I remember those kids who did.

One day he got his lunch out of his cubby and his fruit roll up was gone. He knew who took his snack but even though he was upset he didn't say anything. 

When he went home that afternoon,  he told his mom who stole and how upset he was.  His whole day was off because he didn't have his snack.

She told him that he wasn't allowed to retaliate.  The next morning his mom gave him his lunch which included: two fruit roll-ups.  She told him that he was to give the extra one to the girl who took his the day prior.

He did.  He didn't say anything about her stealing it but that today he had brought an extra for her to have. 

He chuckled as he said she never stole it again but what struck me was the pure kindness his mom taught him.

Clearly it had an impact as he still remembered the story even after 30 years.

Too often we covet and we sometimes steal, because we just want what others have.  Or we're the ones that people are stealing from and we often get so upset that people take what isn't theirs.

Sometimes God can teach us much about kindness and forgiveness with just two Fruit Roll ups.