How Heavy Is Your Bag

One of my teachers had each one of us bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes. For every person we’d refuse to forgive in our life, we were told to choose a potato, write on it the name and date, and put it in the plastic bag. Some of our bags, as you can imagine, were quite heavy.We were then told to carry this bag with us everywhere for one week, putting it beside our bed at night, on the car seat when driving, next to our desk at work.The hassle of lugging this around with us made it clear what a weight we were carrying spiritually, and how we 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 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, and while that’s true, it clearly is also a gift for ourselves!So the next time you decide you can’t forgive someone, ask yourself… Isn’t MY bag heavy enough?And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

Little Candle

Once upon a time a little candle stood in a room filled with other candles, most of them much larger and much more beautiful than she was. Some were ornate and some were rather simple, like herself. Some were white, some were blue, some were pink, some were green. She had no idea why she was there, and the other candles made her feel rather small and insignificant.When the sun went down and the room began to get dark, she noticed a large man walking toward her with a ball of fire on a stick. She suddenly realized that the man was going to set her on fire. No, no!! she cried, Aaaaagghhh! Don’t burn me, please! But she knew that she could not be heard and prepared for the pain that would surely follow.To her surprise, the room filled with light. She wondered where it came from since the man had extinguished his fire stick. To her delight, she realized that the light came from herself.Then the man struck another fire stick and, one by one, lit the other candles in the room. Each one gave out the same light that she did.During the next few hours, she noticed that, slowly, her wax began to flow. She became aware that she would soon die. With this realization came a sense of why she had been created. Perhaps my purpose on earth is to give out light until I die, she mused. And that’s exactly what she did.Lord created you and I to produce light in a dark world. Like that little candle, we all can produce the same amount of light, no matter how small we are or what color we might be. But we can’t produce light until we receive it from an outside source. That source is Lord, the light of the world.

"My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night
But ah my foes and oh my friends
It gives a lovely light...." :Roald Dahl

Life Lessons: Two Days Without Worry

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday.We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone forever.The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with all its possible adversities, its burdens,its large promise and its poor performance; Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.Tomorrow’s sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow, for it is yet to be born.This leaves only one day, Today. Any person can fight the battle of just one day. It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities, Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down.It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad, it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring. Let us, therefore, Live but one day at a time.

Attitude is Everything - Do not stop growing..

Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to climb Mount Everest. On May 29, 1953 he scaled the highest mountain then known to man-29,000 feet straight up. He was knighted for his efforts.He even made American Express card commercials because of it! However, until we read his book, High Adventure, we don’t understand that Hillary had to grow into this success.You see, in 1952 he attempted to climb Mount Everest, but failed. A few weeks later a group in England asked him to address its members. Hillary walked on stage to a thunderous applause. The audience was recognizing an attempt at greatness, but Edmund Hillary saw himself as a failure. He moved away from the microphone and walked to the edge of the platform.He made a fist and pointed at a picture of the mountain. He said in a loud voice, Mount Everest, you beat me the first time, but I’ll beat you the next time because you’ve grown all you are going to grow… but I’m still growing!