St Ephrem talks to us today about anger... and we've heard alot about it... in A Year with the Church Fathers. It makes you wonder why the church fathers kept going on and on about it, right?
Well, the reason it's so important is that anger and forgiveness are closely related. If we hold on to our anger at someone, no matter what they've done to us, we hurt ourselves. Maybe it hurts the other person, maybe not, depending on their proximity. But it definitely hurts us. Letting go of our anger is good for the other person, because we no longer try to hurt them, either in our thoughts or in the physical world. But more than that... it frees us. It releases us from the chains that anger and hatred place on us.
We don't forgive people because they deserve it. Just like God doesn't forgive us because WE deserve it. We give them grace, because He has given us grace. Anger breeds anger, and forgiveness breeds forgiveness. You've experienced that, haven't you? When one person in an argument says they're sorry, very often the other person turns around and also apologizes. (This is not a hard and fast rule, that they apologize back. But it often happens.)
Every day we have a choice. We can pass along the darkness that is passed to us. Or we can share the light that He gives us, new every day. Which will you share today?
God, thanks for always giving us more light, every day, so we can let go of our anger and put forgiveness out into the world.
1 comment:
Amen
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