Hell Hath No Fury

Like A Highland Christian Woman

A friend of mine who is married to a shy, retiring Highland Christian Woman, (OK skip the shy, retiring part) told me a tale of an outing they had yesterday, where the dear girl got her knickers in a twist over a miscreant youth, and decided to teach him a valuable lesson about respect, one he won't quickly forget.  In fact, he is likely to get a stiff neck from constantly looking over his shoulder.

Yesterday, while my wife and I were out shopping, we witnessed a teenager reprimand his elderly relative (perhaps a grandmother?) to: "Put that down! We are NOT going to buy that!" 

 

All the older person had done was pick up a can from a shelf and read it. I was dumbstruck. My wife though was THOROUGHLY ENRAGED.   

 

She walked up to the young man and said in a very low voice: "Let me tell you something, young man. If I EVER see you talk to anybody like that again, I will run to your side and scream 'RAPE! Help me!'  I will then WATCH AS THE POLICE TAKE YOU AWAY. I WILL set you up to be beaten to within an inch of your life in a holding cell, son. You should know that EVEN CRIMINALS LOOK DOWN ON MEN WHO ABUSE old women and children. You won't be able to sit down for MONTHS after they've finished with you. And honey, this is not a threat. It's a PROMISE. Now, APOLOGISE or I WILL scream 'RAPE'. Do it now! Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five..." 

 

At "3" common sense overcame arrogance and pride, and he apologized. 

 

The love of my life then patted his hand and said: "There's a love. Hope you learned something today. Now, remember what I said. If you don't, you could end up six feet under."

 So, here is the gem of wisdom from this incident.  Too often, most of us shy away from a situation where there is a lesson to be taught and a lesson to be learned.  What are we afraid of?  We should be afraid of what Jesus will say to us when we meet Him face to face, and he asks us to account for our lives.

In the Catholic Mass we say the following prayer:

I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do; and I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

We ask for forgiveness for "what I have done, and ... what I have failed to do".  Do we mean it?  We ought to, and if we mean it then our actions should back up our words.  Hers do.  Do ours?