HaHa…You thought “She’s going to say something naughty.” Right? Well, maybe…Grow up. It’s time to put away childish behavior. It’s time to stop holding long term grudges against someone who did something to you twenty years ago. You know that can turn into hatred. It’s no longer something light and you can just hunch your shoulders and dismiss it. If possible, go talk to the person or write a note of reconciliation and forgiveness. Open up communication. There’s enough hatred going around. You don’t have to add to it. Be reasonable. Holding grudges comes from lasting anger. Anger simmers in the heart and mind. That’s where murders come from. You want to kill someone else’ life and their happiness.
Okay, here’s another one: jealousy, unleashed rivalry, trying to outdo somebody else in business, religion, society and other fields of endeavor. Then there are people who if you say something, they always have something to contend with and contest. They want to be right. Being right is not always the best thing. That takes a lot of energy. I say something, you have to say something back, because you have to have the last word. Not good. That’s called attitude of debating and disputes, dissensions. How about wild parties: drinking, carousing, boisterous, obscene music, lewd behavior, gluttony; eating and stuff like that. Some people you never thought would do that, do actually participate in wild parties. How about this…something happened to someone years and years ago and you want somebody to pay for it. So you seek a vulnerable target where you can vent your anger through lawsuits and other vengeful pursuits; even though the one to whom you vent the anger doesn’t deserve it. That happens too.
Then there are idols of the mind. You worship your own likes and dislikes above Godly wisdom. You are your own god! Wow! How about passions that have no bounds. You take it to the limit. Some people think just because they are older they can live and sleep together and accountability stops with age. Nope. Wrong! You’re accountable for your actions against and in rebellion to the ordinances of God. Did you know some people still practice astrology, reading the stars, fortune telling….Yup. And they think it‘s okay. It is okay if you plan to spend eternity out of heaven. Go ahead. But, there are severe consequences. We must not leave out those bitter words that flow from the heart, severely hurting others, so much so, they will never forget them and will ring in their ears a lifetime. How about pornography…there’s a lot of that too. Those images get stuck in the memory and can’t so easily be dismissed. Take It Off! Take It All Off! Teach the children. Jeanette Grattan Parker, Ph.D., Superintendent/Founder-Today’s Fresh Start Charter School; speaker, marriage expert after 50+ years. All rights reserved: Will You Marry Me; Inquiring Minds Want to Know.www.todaysfreshstart.org; [email protected]
