In my neighborhood, garbage and materials for recycling are
picked up every Monday. The trucks
make their rounds early in the morning (usually) so I try to get everything
ready by Sunday evening. Plastic,
metal cans, paper and cut-up cardboard go into one can and garden waste goes
into a different container.
Unwanted things that cannot be recycled go into a third container.
So every Monday, I get rid of things that I no longer
want. Just recently, I threw out
some old pillows that were no longer serviceable. Old clothing that is no longer wearable and too shabby to
donate is a good candidate to throw out as well.
Over the years, I’ve stored items that once were part of my
life but no longer are nor will be.
So why store them? They
just take up space and get in my way.
Some items cannot be thrown out in the garbage; they require special
handling so they must be taken to a hazardous material recycling center. Old pesticides, paint cans, and burned
out fluorescent bulbs are examples.
All this got me to thinking about other things we might want
to get rid of. What might those
be?
What if we could rid ourselves of grudges? Grudges are persistent feelings of
resentment resulting from past injuries or insults. I think we all can remember times when somebody else did
something that was very unpleasant for us. Perhaps a bad driver cut you off and you came close to
having an accident. And, to top it
off, they then had the nerve to flip you off! Every time you think of it, you relive that anger.
Or remember that classmate who started a rumor about you
that was really embarrassing! The
rumor wasn’t true, of course, but everybody believed it. You lost face and just wanted to run
away.
Incidents like this may be many years old now but they still
bring us pain whenever we recall them.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could take these old grudges and
recycle them on Monday mornings with the rest of the garbage?
Somebody once said that “forgiveness” means giving up all
hope of a better past. Recalling these bad experiences will not change our
past. But forgiving the people who
wronged us might allow us to let go of these memories and clean out our
interior house. How refreshing it
would be to let all that negativity go.
It would open up some space and allow us to air ourselves out. We would then have more room to focus
on newer, positive things.
I believe that we will lead happier lives if we can do this.
So make a list of your grudges, package them up in a pile
and haul them out to the curb by 7:30 a.m. on Monday. And after they are gone, don’t look back.
Cheers!
Kevin
