Leaving resentment in God's Hands

He insulted me, he cheated me, he beat me, he robbed me
- those who are free of resentful thoughts surely
find peace.

-The Buddha


Resentment is nothing more than compulsive attachment to a
set of memories. If you could peek through the window of the
mind when you feel resentful, you would see a production
line turning out the same emotion-charged memory over and
over: "He did that to me in 1993, he did that to me in
1993 . . ." You are dwelling on something that took
place in the past - or, more likely, on how you
misunderstood that event and reacted to your
misunderstanding.
When you keep pumping attention into an
event in this way, a limp little memory gets blown up into a
big balloon of hostility.
When you withdraw your attention
by repeating the mantram, the balloon is deflated.
It's as simple as that. ~ Sri Easwaran

I am definitely synchronous with Sri Easwaran's position, in that my own personal mantra is
the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me." I need grace within my own life--I can extend grace to others who have hurt or offended me.
It is like "nursing a grudge"--the more your allow your thoughts, driven by your small ego driven self, to keep that resentment cooking--the more it means to you, and the more offense you take. When that happens, we are predisposed to judge, malign, and seek vengeance.
Not a Christlike action, but a selfish action.
I am in constant need of "getting over myself" and being submitted to the Word of God. So what if someone does something that you disagree with, or is overextending their boundaries?
Resentment is a festering wound to the ego.
Live from the Center, the Essence--the place within(the heart) where the Christ Consciousness is reigning. If Jesus is Lord, (Lord of one's heart) then you will do as He did, and overcome resentment with His own Prayer: "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing..."
Stay at peace within yourself, and let the Lord take your resentment, nail it to the cross where it belongs, dead...and assign any vengeance you may seek, to the Lord. Christ died to relieve you from the sting of it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You can do it! Yes you can.

Image
I claim to be an average man of less than average ability.I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith. -Mahatma Gandhi So, are you willing to give it your best? In this transformation of the small i's to the Real I, the essence, are you willing? to do the Work? Resolve to awaken to the inner motivations of the small self within. Observe yourself. Put some separation between you and your small self/ego. Observe your own behavior, thoughts, actions, motivations. Let the Spirit filter the way you respond to stresses from outside. For the Word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two edged sword, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart-----------your heart! Who is The Living Word? The logos? You know.
Read more

Baylor has need of Christ’s wisdom

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can not serve both God and Mammon.” We ( Baylor - as a university community which says its follows Christ) have blindly served mammon, with the other schools in Texas…and look where it has taken us. Now money is driving the conference groupings even more than before- in 1995. Where will this lead? Texas—that is the University of Texas at Austin, is the driving force of the ‘we deserve more money’ movement. Fair enough, that is as it probably should be. UT is a dominant force in NCAA athletics. It is a secular school. It has absolutely no ties to the Gospel, other than the Gospel’s influence on our culture. Although far less in influence, the same goes for our militaristic land grant school, and our state’s other outpost, which defies description. But Baylor—why do we follow them? We say we are of Christ . I question that. Especially ...
Read more

Handling God's blessings with care

It is permissible to take life's blessings with both hands provided thou dost know thyself prepared in the opposite event to take them just as gladly. This applies to food and friends and kindred, to anything God gives and takes away. -Meister Eckhart In order to live in freedom, we must learn to accept a temporary disappointment, if necessary, when it is for our permanent well-being. Sometimes, when we want to eat something that appeals to us, or when we want to eat a little more than is necessary, we can't help feeling disappointment as we push away from the table. We cannot help thinking that we could as well have stayed on for five more minutes of pleasure, forgetting that it would probably be followed by five hours of stomachache at night. The right time to get up from the meal is when we want just a little more. This is real artistry, real gourmet judgment: when we find that everything is so good that we would like to have one more helping, we get up and walk away. ~Easwa...
Read more