A long
time ago in China, a
girl named Li-Li got
married & went to live with her husband and mother-in-law. In a
very short time, Li-Li found that she couldn't get along with her
mother-in-law at all. Their personalities were very different,
and
Li-Li was angered by many of her mother-in-law's habits. In addition,
she criticized Li-Li constantly.
Days and weeks passed. Li-Li and her mother-in-law never stopped
arguing and fighting. But what made the situation even worse was
that, according to ancient Chinese tradition, Li-Li had to bow to her
mother-in-law and obey her every wish. All the anger and
unhappiness in the house was causing Li-Li's poor husband great
distress.
Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law's bad temper and
dictatorship any longer, and she decided to do something about
it. Li-Li went to see her father's good friend, Mr. Huang, who
sold herbs.
She told him the situation and asked if he would give her some poison
so that she could solve the problem once and for all. Mr. Huang
thought for a while, and finally said, "Li-Li, I will help you
solve your
problem, but you must listen to me and obey what I tell you."
Li-Li said, "Yes, Mr. Huang, I will do whatever you tell me to do."
Mr. Huang went into the back room, and returned in a few minutes with a
package of herbs. He told Li-Li, "You can't use a quick-acting
poison to get rid of your mother-in-law, because that would cause
people to
become suspicious. Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs
that will slowly build up poison in her body. Every other day
prepare
some delicious meal and put a little of these herbs in her
serving.
Now, in order to make sure that nobody suspect you when she dies, you
must be
very careful to act very friendly towards her. Don't argue with
her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen."
Li-Li was so happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried home to
start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law. Weeks and months
went
by, and every other day, Li-Li served the specially treated food to her
mother-in-law. She remembered what Mr. Huang had said about
avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her temper, obeyed her
mother-in-law, and
treated her like her own mother.
After six months had passed, the whole household had changed.
Li-Li had practiced controlling her temper so much that she found that
she almost
never got mad or upset. She hadn't had an argument with her
mother-in-law in six months because she now seemed much kinder and
easier to get along with. The mother-in-law's attitude toward
Li-Li changed, and she began to love Li-Li like her own daughter.
She
kept telling friends and relatives that Li-Li was the best
daughter-in-law
one could ever find. Li-Li and her mother-in-law were now
treating each other like a real mother and daughter.
Li-Li's husband was very happy to see what was happening.
One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang and asked for his help
again. She said, "Dear Mr. Huang, please help me to keep the
poison from killing
my mother-in-law! She's changed into such a nice woman, and I
love her like my own mother. I do not want her to die because of
the
poison I gave her."
Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head. "Li-Li, there's nothing to worry
about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you
were vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your
mind
and your attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by the
love
which you gave to her."
Have you realized that how you treat others is exactly how they will
treat you? There is a wise Chinese saying: "The person who loves
others will also be loved in return."
God might be trying to work in another person's life through you.
