Resentment is from the Latin, meaning to “feel again”. Resentment is like burning down your house to get rid of a rat.

You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.

Forgiveness also is supposed to include forgetting the wrong. What we really forget is the hurt connected with it. When anything that once caused pain comes to mind, we’re growing spiritually if it no longer has the power to hurt us.

We then discover that we had been letting go of our resentments that hurt us again and again. We also learn that one effort to forgive is not nearly enough.

Forgiveness takes the same amount of practice and emotional power we put into carrying the resentment!

Today will bring enough problems. I don’t have either the time or the energy to play the old tapes that cause me pain. I’ll practice praying for those who hurt me, and I’ll take it for granted that God is removing my resentments.

ANGER is when you don’t get your way today, FEAR is that you won’t get your way tomorrow, and RESENTMENT is that you didn’t get your way yesterday.

And that’s something you can hang your hat on.

-Kevin Engelbrecht