Sand & Stone

This story was sent to me years ago by a friend.  I ran across it today and understand it more now than ever...
     A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert.  During some point of the journey they had an arguement, and on friend slapped the other one in the face.  The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand:  "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE."
They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath.  The one who had been slapped got stuck int he mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.  After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stome:  "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."
The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?
The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand wher winds of forgiveness can erase it away.  But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."
WE SHOULD ALL LEARN TO WRITE OUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND CARVE OUR BLESSINGS IN STONE.

Walking around with a grudge against someone that has hurt you or wronged you does not change the facts of the situation.  Sometimes understanding why events happen is the first part of forgiving.  I truly believe that we can hold a grudge for so long that eats at us mentally.  Walking away is hard, forgetting is even harder, and the hardest part of all is understanding why sometimes the ones that we are closest to and have the strongest feelings for are the ones that hurt us.  It has taken years for me to find forgiveness for many situations that have taken place in my life.  I can honestly say that with age I have grown to understand that the grudge and all of the negative feeling that I have make no impression on the person that I harbor the feelings for...I've learned to ask myself...Do you honestly think they are losing sleep over the grudge that you hold?  Caring and loving for another completely and whole heartedly is a complex thing.  What's even more complex is understand another persons' actions...