Jeshua ben Joseph via John Smallman
http://johnsmallman2.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/you-cannot-be-happy-while-bearing-a-grudge/
As you know, God’s infinite Love for all of creation means that no one can ever be lost, abandoned, damned, or discarded, and anyone who suggests otherwise is sorely confused and misguided. Needless to say, many have engaged in extremely unpleasant and unloving behaviors which they believe is a right or a necessity, and before they can leave the illusion they will need to drastically alter the attitudes that led or encouraged them to behave in those ways. This is because anyone who maintains such attitudes or beliefs would feel very uncomfortable and out of place in an environment that is completely peaceful and loving – Reality – and would strive with all his strength to avoid it or to change its state so that it agreed with his own chosen state of hostility – and to change Reality is impossible!
In order to awaken and have the illusion dissolve, it is necessary to release all hostility and negative judgment so that love, unconditional love, can fill your hearts. If you do not love humanity then you cannot love God, because love does not discriminate or separate; it is utterly inclusive and draws every part of creation together. You have been hurt – everyone has been hurt – but refusing to forgive the perpetrator just feeds and maintains the hurt. Maybe the one who hurt you appears to be happy and successful and you resent that and are unhappy – your resentment makes you unhappy, and that feeds your resentment, putting you in a continuous very negative feed-back loop. If you release the resentment and forgive the one who has hurt you, then your unhappiness will dissipate. You cannot be happy while bearing a grudge. Sometimes you get satisfaction when you learn that someone who hurt you has been hurt, but it is a very bitter satisfaction and does not remove your pain or bring you happiness. The only way to happiness is through forgiveness, there is no other way. It is not possible to be happy if you are harboring any resentments or grudges because they cause inner turmoil and anger which are inimical to happiness.
Some may feel that to forgive is impossible because it seems that the suffering the perpetrator has caused can never be healed because it was so extreme. But this is not so; all suffering can be healed when the cause is removed. Suffering continues after that only if the sufferer refuses to release it and dwells on it and on the apparent unfairness or unjustness of it. To do that is to live in the past instead of in the now where everything occurs, and that is to imprison oneself, causing further pain.
When forgiveness is embraced, the one forgiving no longer carries the heavy burden that unforgiveness imposes – the seeking of justice, restitution, or punishment – and frees himself from the unwholesome duties that would otherwise occupy much of his time. The lightness thus experienced is frequently uplifting and very satisfying, and it paves the way for self-forgiveness which will in turn allow love to grow and flourish.
Love is the life-force, God’s divine energy field that encompasses all as it flows constantly and abundantly throughout creation. Individually you can obstruct, restrict, or block Its flow through you by holding on to unloving attitudes. However, you were created from Love and you need It to flow easily and smoothly through you in order to be free to follow your bliss. Unloving attitudes prevent you from partaking fully of this divine and wondrous gift – life – and weigh you down with fear, anxiety, and bitterness, giving you the impression that you have been dealt with unfairly and that you deserve recompense. It may well seem that life has passed you by, when in fact it is you who have chosen to separate yourselves from it by your inflexible and negative attitudes.
The key to happiness and satisfaction in life is to accept its flow just as it happens, now, and to be open and willing to understand and learn the lessons the moment offers. Nothing that happens in your life is accidental, you chose it for the lessons with which it would present you. By accepting that, and by opening yourselves to understanding and learning them, you free yourselves from the self-imposed stresses and anxieties which can make your lives so miserable. Stop holding on to things that need to be released and enjoy the ensuing sense of freedom, because that is your true desire, and it is also God’s Will for you.
Your loving brother, Jesus.
