When a person refuses to forgive, he
is locking doors that some day he might need to open. When we hold grudges and
harbor resentment, who are we hurting the most? Ourselves.
Jim and Jerry were childhood friends
but for whatever reasons, the relationship fell apart and they hadn't spoken
for 25 years. Jerry was on his deathbed and didn't want to enter eternity with
a heavy heart. So he called Jim, apologized and said, "Let's forgive each
other and be done for the past." Jim thought it was a good idea and
decided to visit Jerry at the hospital. They caught up on 25 years, patched up
their differences and spent a couple of hours together. As Jim was leaving,
Jerry shouted from behind, "Jim, just in case I don't die; remember, this
forgiveness doesn't count." Life is too short to hold grudges. It is not
worth it.
While it is not worth holding
grudges, it doesn't make sense to be bitten time and again. It is well said,
"You cheat me once, shame on you; you cheat me twice, shame on me."
John Kennedy once said,
"Forgive the other person but don't forget their name." I am sure
that his message was that one should not get cheated twice.
SPOKEN WORDS CAN'T BE RETRIEVED
A farmer insulted his neighbor.
Realizing his mistake, he went to the preacher to ask for forgiveness. The
preacher told him to take a bag of feathers and drop them in the center of
town. The farmer did as he was told. Then the preacher asked him to go and
collect the feathers and put them back in the bag. The farmer tried but
couldn't as the feathers had all blown away. When he returned with the empty
bag, the preacher said, "The same thing is true about your words. You
dropped them rather easily but you cannot retrieve them, so be very careful in
choosing your words."
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