Thursday, December 17, 2009

Are Your Potatos Heavy?

A teacher once told each of her students to bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes to school. For every person they refuse to forgive in their life's experience, they chose a potato, wrote on it the name and date, and put it in the plastic bag. Some of their bags were quite heavy.

They were then told to carry this bag with them everywhere for one week, putting it beside their bed at night, on the car seat when driving, next to their desk at work.

The hassle of lugging this around with them made it clear what a weight they were carrying spiritually, and how they had to pay attention to it all the time to not forget and keep leaving it in embarrassing places. Naturally, the condition of the potatoes deteriorated to a nasty smelly slime. This was a great metaphor for the price we pay for keeping our pain and heavy negativity! Too often we think of forgiveness as a gift to the other person, when it clearly is a gift to ourselves!


***************************************

I found this story and loved the message behind it so much that I wanted to share it with all of you. No one gets an exemption from getting hurt. After all, we're only human and we've all experienced it sometime or another. At times it comes from strangers and other times from those we love the most. Many times, in the heat of the moment, things come out of our mouths before they get filtered by our hearts and what we say are mean and ugly things. And yes, those things can hurt so badly that they break our hearts into a million pieces. But the only way to mend our hearts back together again is to show others the same compassion that God gives to us each and every moment in our lives.

So this Christmas, let bygones be bygones. Give others that same gift of forgiveness that God has graciously given to you and you'll see the weight of those potatoes lift off your shoulders and your life will get a little lighter (and happier too).

Much love,

14 comments:

  1. Beautiful message Miti! It is so very true...unforgiveness is keeping ourselves prisioner, while forgiving others...sets us free. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love this message, and it is too true!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great post! Can I peel all those potatoes so we have mashed potatoes for Christmas? : )

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love it! What a great thought, especially this time of year ~ ♥

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is a great message. I never thought of it that way.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Excellent message today Miti! The burden of unforgiveness is too heavy for any of us to carry. That is why we have been redeemed from it. Thank you Jesus!

    ReplyDelete
  7. So very true!Thanks for sharing that.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That is a wonderful story! It is so true. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I admittedly have one potoato that I've held onto for way too long...

    Working on it though!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful Miti. Thank you for sharing this with us.
    Hugs,
    Mimi

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you so much for sharing this! :D Christ forgives us so much more than we do of others.

    Merry CHRISTmas!
    Sherry

    ReplyDelete

We love your comments! Please keep it nice and sweet and family friendly so we don't have to delete!