The Grudge

In 2004 a horror movie was released that was widely popular at the time. The name of this movie was “The Grudge”. I never saw this movie and I don’t know what it’s about, I’m not a big horror movie fan, but what I do know, is that for a horror movie, you couldn’t pick a better title. Grudges, it’s something that many people struggle with because face it, its human nature. When we feel we are wronged, we have a natural tendency to bottle up the emotion and carry a chip on our shoulder for many, many years. Some people go their whole lives harboring a deep seeded anger and hatred for something often completely insignificant.  I’m not saying don’t get angry, because due to human nature, people will upset you. It’s HOW you deal with this anger that determines whether or not you will be a slave to a grudge, or able to find an inner peace and forgiveness.

Anger, it is one of, if not the strongest and most dangerous human emotion. I saw a quote once that said, “Anger is one letter short of danger”. How true. Its anger that has led to many friendships lost many spouses and children abused, countless families torn apart, not to mention all the assaults and homicides throughout history. Anger can also lead to inner suffering, in Star Wars, Jedi Master Yoda said “Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering”. The Star Wars movies also teach that anger and hate are paths to “the dark side”. It makes perfect sense. When people let their anger take over them, you can almost see the dark cloud hanging over them. So how do we prevent this “dark cloud” from following us?

The first thing to do is not bottle it up. When we become angry, we need to take a deep breath and calmly explain to the person who wronged us what happened. A lot of the anger issues we face can simply be resolved by communication. Communication sometime seems like a lost art in society. Time goes by so fast and we stay so busy that when it becomes necessary to communicate, we never have the time. Secondly, and most importantly, we should give our anger to God. Pray and ask God for guidance. He will never lead you astray. When we talk to God, he listens.

In life, people are going to let us down. The presence of sin on the Earth will always be prevalent. Because of that, we are going to have moments where we are angry. What will you do with it? Will you control it? Or, will you live your life in a horror movie called “THE GRUDGE”? The choice is yours!