“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13, NIV).
Malachy McCourt once said, “Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” Sadly, people who harbor grudges fail to recognize how much stress they bring upon themselves. The fact is that grudges punish the grudge bearer far more than the one who deserves the punishment.
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. 9 We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going” 1 Corinthians 4:8-9, TLB).
I remember my first yo-yo. It was a vintage red Duncan Butterfly. I would spend hours practicing with my friends. I wasn’t very good but I did learn a few tricks, such as Rock the Cradle, Walk the Dog, and Around the World.
“Don’t long for “the good old days,” for you don’t know whether they were any better than these!” (Ecclesiastes 7:10, TLB).
Several years ago, I had a conversation with an elderly member of my congregation. I asked, “Do you miss the good, old days? I’m talking days without the hustle and hurry of life. Days when neighbors knew and cared about one another. Days when life was simpler.”
“As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18, ESV).
I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I opened the curtain, and daylight was nowhere to be found. I asked Alexa to play a song. She obliged with the following dirge:
“I appeared to them from far away. People of Israel, I have always loved you, so I continue to show you my constant love” (Jeremiah 31:3, NIV).
Author, David Prince, once told of a family who adopted an older child from an unspeakably horrific orphanage in another country. When they brought the little girl home, one of the things they told her was that she was expected to clean her room every day. When she heard about that responsibility, she fixated on it and saw it as a way she would earn her family’s love. Every morning when her parents entered her room, it was immaculate and she would sit on the bed and say, “My room is clean. Can I stay? Do you still love me?” The child’s words broke her new parents’ hearts.
“Whenever I am anxious and worried, you comfort me and make me glad” (Psalm 94:19, GNT).
Control is a good thing. Controlling one’s temper is a must for those who follow Jesus. Controlling one’s food intake is critical for maintaining a healthy body. Controlling the expenditure of money is crucial for any family on a tight budget.