It's hard to hate. No, let me rephrase that. It's very easy to hate, but extremely exhausting. It zaps all our energy and turns us into a person we don't like. It takes over our soul until we eventually turn into the very person we hate, or worse.
We may all enjoy a little hating here and there, to an extent. Schadenfreude, I guess. Anyone who says they have never experienced Schadenfreude has to take an honest look at their hearts. At times, we take pleasure in someone's misfortune when we feel they have it coming. But that can turn ugly, and I don't mean just for the object of our hate, but also for us.
Is it worth it? Some will say yes, and for a time it may seem so. Revenge is sweet on the surface but it can turn sour eventually, and even deadly in some cases. I think the reason why God tells us to leave it to Him, is because we don't see the damage it does to our psyche, whereas He does. He encourages us to seek, pray and cry for justice to Him and I guess through the proper earthly channels. He will deal with it with a timing that is perfect - whether it be in a visible manner or not. People have often called it poetic justice, I call it God's justice.
Truth has a funny way of rearing its head even when people do their best to hide it. Maybe it won't be in the swift manner that we want, but it will. Proverbs says fools get trapped in the snare that they themselves have set up. I've witnessed that happen. They don't need our help, they will do it to themselves, one way or another.
One very good reason to try not to focus on the hatred we feel is that we will miss the other opportunities for happiness that are there because of our seething and devising. A classic example is a person I know who turns off men that she meets because she habitually spews out vitriol, through opinions and jokes about men. She thinks it's funny but it scares them off. There are times she exhausts even me, when I have to listen to her rant and rage. It is sad to witness her continually ruin her own chance at future happiness because she refuses to let go of the past.
Yes, there's a time to hate but we should try to keep it as short as we possibly can, for our own sake. We do ourselves a huge favor when we finally choose to let it go. Holding on to hatred is like trying to hold fire. It will eventually burn and consume us and those that we love, if we hold on to it too long.
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2 comments:
All very well but how do you let go of hate?
It's a very slow process like any other healing. In my case, I had to really talk about it, whether with friends or with a counselor and it still took years. As time went, I was able to slowly see also that good can and was coming out of the bad that was done to me, and that there were priceless lessons I never would have learned otherwise. As I started to count my blessings through the years, it started to outweigh the hate that I felt. So even now when I'm tempted to relish the thought of hate, I can counter it right away with the blessings I've had since then. I slowly chose not to dwell in it until I became free of it. It's not easy but one gets there in time, as long as one chooses not to wallow in it and use it as a convenient excuse for everything bad that happens in life.
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