Playing Nice
“Now, brothers and sisters, be filled
with joy. Try to make everything right, and do what I have asked you to do.
Agree with each other, and live in peace. Then the God of love and peace will
be with you.” 2 Corinthians 13:11
“If you kids can’t play
together nicely, you can’t play together at all!” Most of us recognize Mom’s
voice behind those words, don’t we? My brother is two and half years younger
than me, and I’m afraid I took advantage of that age difference as we grew up.
One sunny west Texas day, Joel and I were playing outside. He was about three
and I was five or six. We had little metal cars and were creating streets in
the dust for them. Eventually, growing tired of that, I started just throwing
my car up in the air and watching it fall. One time, quite by accident, it fell
right on top of his skull. The blood scared me to death. I don’t remember how
many, but the little guy required stitches.
