A conversation was happening between Pastor Dave, a female friend, and me. The subject at hand was the amount of the Powerball jackpot, which at that time was stratospheric. Not surprisingly, thoughts of "what would I do with that much money" started flowing.
In the midst of us talking about how cool it would be to be able to really make an impact on some church project or mission work, or to share liberally with friends and family, the aforementioned female friend said something to the effect of, "Well, I know for sure that my husband's ex wouldn't get a penny! I know we're supposed to be forgiving and all, but that woman...augh!"
My response to that included a reference to the mostly-ignored epilogue to "The Lord's Prayer," where Jesus gives His own commentary on the phrase "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors".
Matthew 6:14-15: "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (NIV)
I followed that up with a clever epigram...not original with me. At that point Pastor Dave, alluding to my mostly-humorous blog, Almost the Truth, said, "Ooh, that's profound! You should have a blog called "Actually the Truth" and post that!"
And the vision that was planted in my brain still remains...and has become what you see before you.
What was the clever epigram, you say?
Truth is...holding a grudge against someone is like drinking rat poison and expecting the rat to die.
Wanted to pass on a quote from the FaceBook reaction to this post...from Joe Knutson: "Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."
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