THE POWER OF FORGIVING AND HEALTH - PART 1

The benefits of forgiving make it a healthy choice!  For every negative effect of un-forgiveness, there is a benefit when you forgive. 

When I was a child we watched Looney tunes cartoons.  There were some characters that were mortal enemies.   Like Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat, Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny.  Bugs Bunny had a lot of enemies:  Yosemite Sam, the Tasmanian devil and Wile E Coyote.  They had rifles shooting at one another and blowing up things.   In those crazy cartoons they can have gigantic explosions and make long standing feuds give you a good belly laugh. 

A cartoon is where I first heard of the Hatfield’s and the McCoy’s family feud.  Their feud is part of America folklore.  It involved two families; one from West Virginia and the other from Kentucky.  When I researched it I found that it wasn’t funny at all.

FAMILY FEUD

It began because they held grudges about different political views during the Civil War, later there was a dispute and lawsuit over the ownership of a hog, along with marital issues between the families.  The bitterness escalated so much that the State had to get involved to bring order.  Between 1865 and 1890 twelve family members had been killed, 10 wounded, 9 got life sentences and 1 member was hanged for his offenses   

A willingness to forgive could have brought peace, health and life in that situation.  They could have benefitted from the word in Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger (wrath)”.   Their legendary feud is an example of what could happen when anger and resentment goes unchecked and is not cut off by forgiveness.  Not forgiving can wield some damaging blows to all but especially to the one that has been offended.  That is why our God and loving Father urges us to forgive.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS ON YOUR HEALTH

When a person does not forgive or holds a grudge, it can have negative effects on their health.  Studies have found that it can cause

• High blood pressure and rapid heartbeat. 
• Un-forgiveness causes stress which can tighten muscles and intensify pain.
• It also interferes with your immune system -  all of these have an effect on arthritis says an article in “Arthritis Today”
• Depression symptoms can result from prolonged un-forgiveness.  It's not only un-forgiveness of others that can affect our depression. Sometimes, we need to forgive ourselves.

AVOID REPEATED ABUSE

Un-forgiveness brings anger and bitterness to relationships But …. Forgiving does not mean that you allow yourself to be abused, or that you must continue to subject yourself to the hurtful actions of others. You should forgive, but continued relationship with the person who repeatedly hurts you is not necessarily the best thing to do.

REVERSE THE DAMAGE

We have seen that un-forgiveness can damage our health.  Forgiving can avoid or reverse that damage.  Let's continue this conversation next week in THE POWER OF FORGIVING AND HEALTH PART 2