From 4
The Green Monster
and are brothers. They both bring a gift. Cain brings grain from his land, Abel brings his best sheep.
And then something painful happens. is pleased with Abel's gift. Not with Cain's.
Cain becomes furious. Not right away — it starts with a face like a coming storm. God tells him: watch out, this feeling is crouching at your door like an animal. You can master it.
But he doesn't listen.
He asks his brother to go out into the field with him. And there he kills him.
When God later asks where Abel is, Cain says: how should I know? Am I supposed to watch my brother?
It's the first story in the Bible about two people having a conflict. It ends as badly as it possibly could, right away.
For today
Does this sound familiar?
You've practiced your lines for the school play for weeks. You know every word. And who gets the lead? That girl who only showed up to audition yesterday. She gets all the compliments.
You tell a friend: she's not even that good, honestly.
That's the green monster. You're hoping to feel a little bigger by making her smaller.
It doesn't work, by the way. Usually it just makes you feel worse.
Be happy for her? Hard pass. I'll just say she didn't deserve it anyway!
Take a look in the mirror:
- When did you say something unkind about someone who had actually done something well?
- Where in your body do you feel jealousy? Your stomach, your throat, behind your eyes?
- Imagine you'd gotten the lead instead. Would you have noticed how the other person felt?
Mirror line
I'd love to say she wasn't even that good, but I've learned jealousy is usually just grief wearing a disguise.
From 6
Build Your Own Boat
The world has filled up with fighting and noise. It's one big mess, and decides to start over.
He gives the job of building an enormous boat. Right in the middle of dry land. Everyone's doubled over laughing: a ship on land, how do you even come up with that.
Noah keeps building. For years.
When it's finished, he goes inside with his family and a pair of every kind of animal. The door closes.
And then it starts to rain. The water rises and rises, and outside everything gets swept away. Inside, between the wooden walls, it's quiet.
Forty days. And then a very long wait until there's dry land again.
For today
Does this sound familiar?
There's unrest in your class. Fights on the playground, nasty comments at break, everyone's angry at everyone and no one remembers how it started. It wears you right out.
You're not going to change the whole class. You can't, and it's not your job either.
What you can do: not join in. And find two people who are calm, to do something that has nothing to do with the mess.
That's your boat. It's not big. But it floats.
Bring everyone along? Forget it. I'm building my own boat and leaving the rest to swim!
Take a look in the mirror:
- Where do you go when things get too loud in your head or at school?
- Who do you bring on board?
- When did you join in with trouble you'd actually rather have stayed out of?
Mirror line
I'd love to just leave everyone who's fighting behind, but I've learned you can't change the whole class — you can only build your own boat.
From 11
The Tower That Grew Too Tall
Everyone on earth speaks the same language. They understand each other without any trouble, and they can do anything together.
Then they get a big idea. Let's build a tower that reaches into the clouds. Then everyone will see how great we are.
The tower rises. Brick on brick on brick.
And the higher it gets, the less they listen to each other. Everyone is busy with the tower and no one with the person standing next to them.
Then scrambles their language. They stand next to each other and can't understand a word. The building stops and everyone scatters.
The tower was never finished.
For today
Does this sound familiar?
You're building a den in the garden with a couple of friends. At first it goes well. But the bigger the den gets, the more everyone wants their own way — one wants a roof of branches, another wants a blanket, a third thinks it should all be done differently. Everyone's shouting, nobody's listening.
You all speak the same language. And yet you don't understand each other.
The only thing that helps is going quiet for a second, walking up to someone, and just asking: shall we do this?
Listen to him? Never have, never will. I'm quietly hoping his whole tower comes crashing down!
Take a look in the mirror:
- Have you noticed that shouting causes a fight faster than just talking does?
- When did you really listen to someone who thought something different from you?
- Who would you rather sit down with today, instead of shouting at them?
Mirror line
I'd love to just keep shouting until everyone agreed with me, but I've learned you don't understand each other better by shouting louder — only by actually listening.
