A SACK OF
POTATOES
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 sack
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, in turn, made them
unpleasant to be around. It didn't take long for
each of the students to figure out that getting
rid of the potatoes was much more important than
carrying them around.
This is 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.
Forgiveness is clearly is for
ourselves!
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