Do You Have Holes In Your Fence?

 

The Fence story - Author Unknown

There once was a young boy with a very bad temper. The boy's father wanted to teach him a lesson, so he gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper he must hammer a nail into their wooden fence.

On the first day of this lesson, the little boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. He was really mad!

Over the course of the next few weeks, the little boy began to control his anger, so the number of nails that were hammered into the fence dramatically decreased.

It wasn't long before the little boy discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Then, the day finally came when the little boy didn't lose his temper even once, and he became so proud of himself, he couldn't wait to tell his father.

Pleased, his father suggested that he now pull out one nail for each day that he could hold his temper.

Several weeks went by and the day finally came when the young boy was able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

Very gently, the father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.

"You have done very well, my son," he smiled, "but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same."

The little boy listened carefully as his father continued to speak.

"When you say things in anger, they leave permanent scars just like these. And no matter how many times you say you're sorry, the wounds will still be there."

see   (see: The Fence Story - a lesson on anger )

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Anger is a huge problem in our society today. And despite all of the anger management classes that are out there for people to take, the problem of anger just seems to get worse as the days go by.

I chose the picture of the fence above because some of the holes that are left in someone when anger is geared at them  is so huge, that people cannot get over them.

The bible has much to say about anger. A few of them are on the above story site, and I want to give the references to them here if you would like to look them up for yourselves. They are:

Proverbs 16:32

Ephesians 4:6-10 -

James 1:19-20

What more can be said. Much, I think. But today I will leave you about God and his anger. 

"But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness." 

Psalm 86:15

Thank God,  He loves us and is willing to forgive us! And it's only by him that the holes that fill our spirits, can fully be healed.

Thanks for coming today, Friends. Have a blessed day!