How many of you are holding a grudge right now? If I could see your hands, it would probably be around 90+% of you, right? Last week, I let anger and upset get the best of me. I said things I shouldn’t have said, but I felt justified in my anger. I was acting out from a place of hurt and it wasn’t pretty. In the past, I have encouraged people to forgive or be bound by the chains of a grudge. And yet, here I was sinking down and trying to bring people down with me.

As in many times in my life, God winked at me in the sermon today, which was all about forgiveness. It was as if they all knew what I was struggling with, and gave me the solutions I needed right then and there.

I always thought I forgave people too easily. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Well, I always forgive and get hurt again by the same people. I thought that when you forgive someone, it is like water under a bridge. And yet, I forgave and forgave, to be hurt and hurt some more.

Well today I learned that you can forgive people without even telling them or without necessarily having to reconnect with them. A grudge is “allowing someone to live rent free in your head.” When you forgive someone, you set yourself free and let go of the negative energy you hold within yourself. Now there are instances where you can forgive someone, but realize that certain people should not be reconnected with. Sometimes there are toxic people we enable in our lives and sometimes we have to allow them to work on themselves before we can reconnect with them.

Do not let chains bind you to drama. Let go and move on. Don’t place conditions on your forgiveness either, just let it go. I know when I have forgiven people in a true way, I felt so much better afterward. It was because of the sermon that I took responsibility for my own role in the negative situation and realized that I could have done things differently. I am no longer operating from a place of hurt, but a place of peace. I pray you can find that peace as well. Forgive someone today and see how much better you’ll feel.