#BIGRead14

Just reading the poem struck me with the power of unchecked hatred:

Hatred.
It has found a home in me.
Wormed its way through my better self
and into my soul to lay its poisonous
parasitical spawn.

I feel it growing.
I feel it gnawing.
I feel it rising within.
It controls my heartbeat.
It sours my countenance.
It grips my voice, making some things
impossible to say;
adding a sneer where a smile is needed.

How can we learn to manage our emotions:

Negative emotions, like rage, envy or bitterness, tend to spiral out of control, especially immediately after they’ve been triggered. In time, these sorts of emotions can grow like weeds, slowly conditioning the mind to function on detrimental feelings and dominating daily life. Ever met a person who’s consistently angry or hostile? They weren’t born that way. But they allowed certain emotions to stir within them for so long that they became inbred feelings arising all too frequently. (Huffington Post)

Here’s a little something that made me smile today:

#Do1NiceThing: Give a drink to a homeless person or take part in ‘Suspended Coffee‘

Maggi Dawn: Giving it up

Maggi draws on Mark 6:45-52 – Jesus walking on water… Sometimes we can be lost so much in our emotions that its hard to recognise hope on the horizon … I get that, so we need cheerful songs, friends, beauty around us (amongst other things) to help give that hope.

We can’t even begin to know God until we accept the paradoxical nature  of the encounter – that he is, on the one hand, limitless and unknowable, and, on the other hand, made known to us in the practical realities of everyday life.