Have we ever realized what a stench we raise when we carry grudges and bitterness around?

A kindergarten teacher decided to let her class play a game.

The teacher told each child in the class to bring along a plastic bag containing a few potatoes. Each potato would be given a name of a person that the child hated, so the number of potatoes that a child put in his or her plastic bag would depend on the number of people he or she hated.

So when the day came, every child brought some potatoes with the name of people they hated. Some had two potatoes; some four while some had up to five potatoes.

The teacher then told the children to carry the plastic bag with the potatoes in them for a week, wherever they went.

Days passed by, and the children started to complain of the unpleasant smell let out by the rotten potatoes. Besides, those having five potatoes also had to carry heavier bags. After the week, the children were relieved because the game had finally ended.

The teacher then asked the children: “How did you feel, carrying the potatoes with you for a week?” The children let out their frustrations and complained of the trouble they had to go through having to carry the heavy and smelly potatoes wherever they went.

Then the teacher told them the hidden meaning behind the game: “This is exactly the situation when you carry your hatred for somebody inside your heart,” she said, “The stench of hatred will contaminate your heart and you will carry it with you wherever you go. If you cannot tolerate the smell of rotten potatoes for just one week, can you imagine what it will be like to have the stench of hatred in your heart for a lifetime?”

Well I am sure the children learnt a lesson for life, though I wish some teacher had done the same thing for each of us, and we could have saved all those years carrying dislike, hatred and grudges in the plastic bag of our minds, right?

As I write, my thoughts go to what kind of a plastic bag God would have carried had He decided to remember all our mistakes and wrong doings? But God doesn’t do that. His forgiveness is so great that he allows us to commune and have fellowship with Him because there is no plastic bag of our stuff that He carries along and puts between.

If God can forgive, what fools we are to carry our grudges and hate, and burden ourselves with this unnecessary load.

Let’s get rid of this stinking bag of potatoes we’ve been carrying till now, by throwing our potatoes away..!

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