Bag of Potatoes - Justice vs Forgiveness 25 October 2013
Harvesting your own planted potatoes is a special event. We put in the effort of preparing the field, plant the potatoes and look forward to especially the NEW potatoes. They are all different shapes and sizes! For the Swedes it coincides with the mid-Summer festival in June. New Potatoes, Herring and of course Schnapps is the order of the day! For us it would be around Christmas. As we plant our ‘potatoes’ in life the harvest is also variable. Next time you open a bag of potatoes, think of all the people that have hurt you or treated you wrong, in present time and in the past. There is no denying that there is much injustice and wrong in this world. In this case, it is the list of injustice done to you, we need to look at. Even the smallest offence counts, if you remember it. Allocate the size of potatoes according to the degree of hurt you felt. Perhaps some of these potatoes have been in the ground for many years and have grown REALLY large! Write the name of the person who has hurt or wronged you, onto the potato and put it into a plastic bag. This bag of potatoes represents the weight you are carrying around, as you hold onto hurt/anger. Anger tricks you into thinking that JUSTICE will set you free. The belief of “every dog has its day” or perhaps an “eye for an eye”? Imagine that you are required to carry this bag of potatoes (even if it is only a few) around with you everywhere you go. You will have to drive around with it, take it to work/school, walk into shops with it, take it to the dining room, to the kitchen, to the bathroom and even set it down next to your bed, only to pick it up again as you wake up. You need to keep reminding yourself, not to leave the bag behind…..YOU NEED TO DO THIS FOR AT LEAST TWO WEEKS!! As the days go by, the potatoes sweat in the plastic bag and start to smell bad. A week down the line, they start getting slimy and nasty. This is a Joyce Meyer forgiveness illustration. Only when you have truly forgiven, can you stop carrying the weight of the pain or anger around. The action of forgiveness required is up to you. If you seek help within your religion or find professional help, or do it yourself, is your choice. Forgiveness does not take place in the material world, it is a spiritual experience. If you wait for the offender to make matters right it would be like sitting in a rocking chair and be very busy rocking back and forth, but you will never get anywhere. Forgiveness does NOT mean condoning the behaviour. Forgiveness sets YOU free! A transformation takes place in your heart, when you no longer need justice but instead harvest the fruits of forgiveness!
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