Resentment

Resentment, grudge holding, have you ever had these sentiments? They are active emotions, sometimes behind the scenes bit actors and more often than not, they can perform the leading role, cast as YOU, in life's play. Recurrent thoughts of having been done wrong can become a sticky plaque, a bacterial deposit attaching itself onto the soul. The resentment, silent or otherwise, can become the reason for distrust in relationship and for as long as the active feeling is alive and well, fed life giving oxygen, it will grow and become. This brings me to you, and I. Have you ever offended someone? Hurt their feelings, betrayed a trust, told their secret? Have you treated someone with impatience, been unkind? How about cruelty, unjust and biased behaviour, favoritism, exclusion, mean spirited gossip? How about hoping someone would just get lost? Ever wish a person would disappear? Have you banished someone with your thoughts? What is in there, that heart of yours? Resentment, grudge holding, they can bring out the very worst in us AND help us justify the awful inclinations of emotional retaliation. You hurt me, I hurt so and so and so on, and so on. The plaque becomes plague, coating us all in the ichy oil spill of a blackened leaky heart. Forgiveness is a bold step, an affirming yes to healing of self and often times, a confirmation that I too, am guilty of the wrong doing for which I resent and accuse others. Mark 11:25 "And if you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." Easier said than done you say? Well of course, forgiveness takes awareness. A conscientious awareness precedes all the kind and loving stuff that forgiveness is made up of. Just like resentment and grudge holding, loving forgiveness requires feeding, life giving oxygen. You get to work on the plaque that has coated your heart. You get to chip away at it and give yourself the gift of wholeness, the healing that comes from recognizing that since you are imperfect and require and request forgiveness, that you too are capable of forgiving others for their flawed ways. Hard work, yes indeed. Can it be done? Go find out, it may be the best day of your life followed by many more.