Snakes with Claws

Growing up with three younger brothers, I remember that they daily fought and scuffled with each other like puppies.  The boys never bothered me and when my children started with the friendly punching and jabbing, I generally let it go unless they forgot and engaged in it in church.  I'll admit to being aggravated by the frequent verbal insults of the girls.  I called them the "Snake Sisters."  At times, I'd remind them,  "Pull in your claws, snakes."  Then they'd laugh, tell me, "Oh, mother, snakes don't have claws," and the fighting mood would be defused.

Situation:  Recently, I was chatting with my friend, Marty.  She mentioned that she was sad that she was not getting together before Christmas with her four old pals from high school days.  Apparently, several years ago, one of the friends, Mrs. A., was insulted by something Marty said. But Mrs. A., didn't discuss it with Marty, Mrs. A. told Mrs. B. how horribly she was hurt.  Mrs. B. agreed with her that Marty was a terrible person and then told Mrs. C.  After several more months, Mrs. C. relayed the situation to Mrs. D., who, it turns out, was Marty's best friend in high school.

Mrs. D. finally called Marty, who, until that time, was clueless that anything was amiss.  Marty was upset that this had happened nearly a year previously (the friends are from a large city several states away from Marty) and no one had bothered to tell her.  Meanwhile, the four friends had decided to have their annual Christmas get-together and not include Marty.

Marty racked her brain: what on earth could she have said to have caused such a break in friendship?  Why hadn't Mrs. A. talked with her about what must have been a giant misunderstanding?  Marty chatted with her friend, Mrs. D.  It would seem there was nothing Mrs. D. could do because Mrs. A., Mrs. B. and Mrs. C. just didn't want to associate with Marty anymore.

Lessons learned:  This 'snake' behavior sounds like middle-school cattiness to me!  These days, the 'girls' would probably be texting every word.  You'd think that grown women would be nicer to each other, but the reality is that some women never grow up.  I told Marty, hoping to console her, that there must be a reason for this, that one or all of them probably were jealous of her.  It seems that all of them went through several disastrous marriages and here Marty is, single and doing extremely well, in every way.

Our Take-away: Friendship and love are so precious!  Let's take extra care to nurture it and give a person the chance to explain things if we feel hurt or insulted.  What did Jesus say?: forgive seventy times seven!  How much He must love us to put up with us!!