Good sense makes one slow to anger,
and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
—Proverbs 19:11
Have you ever been mistreated? Unjustly judged? Been trash-talked? Probably. And there’s nothing you can do about it.
But there is something you can do about continuing to revisit it, brooding over it, and stewing about it. Rip that page out of the diary; refuse to keep a record of it.
Clean out your mental closet; eliminate the clutter that’s not worth keeping.
When you continue obsessing about something hurtful that someone caused, you are giving them control of your mind and your happiness. Holding a grudge is punishing yourself for something someone else has done. Harold Kushner said, “Nursing a grudge only perpetuates the offender’s power over you.”
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice” (Eph 4:31).
If you’re holding a grudge,
weeds have taken over your garden.