Fuel

Yesterday I read Proverbs 25:23..."As a north wind brings rain, so a sly tongue brings angry looks".

There's someone I know who often gives me angry looks. When I read that it caused me to pause and think about it...I'm not a walking Webster's dictionary and I wasn't really sure what "sly" meant, other than it seemed to refer to something devious. I don't feel devious. I didn't think I was devious...but since I often get angry looks from this person and because God's Word said it, I figured maybe I really was devious and had a tongue that was so sly, that even I didn't recognize it.

This morning when I woke up the Holy Spirit was there to meet me with a word of revelation: "You hold onto the past in order to use it as fuel for the future". This person, as well as a deceased family member, has caused me tremendous hurts. I have always felt as though I have forgiven them, but this new revelation allowed me to see that I'm still clutching some of the hurt close to my heart and it must reflect in my speech and in my attitudes. Holding onto those hurts, whether I realized I was doing it or not, served to fuel offense in the future. I was perpetuating the fire of my own hurts. Just as a fire requires fuel to burn, past hurts were fueling future ones.

In order to break the cycle of angry looks and, hopefully, the angry feelings behind the looks, I need to cast aside the past hurts and not cling to the fuel that will serve to burn me in the future.