Resentment
makes your life and your world smaller,
while Forgiveness forces you to grow beyond
what you are.
Forgiveness
is one of those things we've been doing
upside down and backwards.
We think it's hurting them. Guess
again!
While
I'm at home nursing my grudge,
my "grudgee" is out dancing!
R Cross!
I
once held a grudge for 3 years toward a
friend of mine. I remember feeling like
I deserved that grudge! It was mine! I earned
it! She hurt me and so it's not only my
right to carry this heavy bucket o' manure
around with me everywhere I go, but also
she doesn't deserve my forgiveness!
You
know, to this day I'm sure that she didn't
feel any pain or discomfort from my not
forgiving her during that time period. But
boy-howdy did I feel it! 
Holding
on to a grudge takes work and is very costly!
It feels sour to the soul. It's clearly
not what God had in mind with our sleek
'n sexy design as we just don't perform
to our tops while holding grudges.
Forgiveness
is almost a selfish act because of its
immense benefits to the one who forgives.
Lawana Blackwell.
Let
me be clear with you. I honor your difficulty
in forgiving another. You are hurting, and
that's important. You deserve to hurt. You
deserve to ache and grieve over what's been
done or said. Here's what you DON'T deserve.
You don't deserve the stress lines around
your eyes from nursing a grudge (don't
think they don't show!). You don't
deserve the ankle weights (that's where
grudges settle on your body...a weight in
your step). You don't deserve missing
the lesson in character and strength that
comes when you forgive.
It
really doesn’t matter if the person
who hurt you deserves to be forgiven.
Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself.
You have things to do and you want to
move on.
Forgiveness
means giving
up all hope of a better past.
-Landrum
Bolling
So
my friend. Feel the pain. Hate the offense.
Despise the offender if you must. And then
LOVE
YOURSELF enough to let it go. You deserve
to fly, that's the way you were crafted.
You don't have to forget, you don't have
to agree with. You only have to remove the
self-imposed hood over your own head and
release your right to be judge.
Do it, move past it and have the integrity
to not kick dust on it as you walk away.
It's a very free
and alive day that follows, I promise.
