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People do some absolutely strange things. Here’s one. Linda Torello is buried in Orangetown, New York. Now that’s not strange, but this is: every morning her former husband visits her grave. He was briefly married to Torello in the 1970’s and hasn’t had contact with anyone in the family for over forty years. But every morning he visits the grave of his ex-wife with his current wife. But that’s not all. He urinates on the grave and sometimes leaves a bag of excrement. The woman has been dead for five years. When the family found bags of excrement on her grave, they set up a trail camera and captured images of the ex-husband desecrating the grave.*

Wow. Talk about holding a grudge. People who hold a grudge against someone usually want to hurt them, or, at least, insult them. What baffles me is this man’s action doesn’t hurt his ex-wife at all. She’s been dead for years. His actions are pathetic.

I Corinthians 13:5 says love “is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” (NIV) That’s what a grudge is, holding a record of how someone wronged us. We feel justified in holding the grudge because we were treated unfairly.

But that isn’t love. I hope you aren’t pathetically holding a grudge against someone. Let’s love others by being quick to forgive.

*”Holding a Grudge, A weekly roundup of international news oddities,” Salt Lake City Weekly, October 12, 2022, https://www.cityweekly.net/utah/holding-a-grudge/Content?oid=19020621

How to leave a review: https://www.sparkingfaith.com/rate-and-review/

Visit Elmer Fuller’s author website at: https://www.elmerfuller.com/

Bumper music “Landing Place” performed by Mark July, used under license from Shutterstock.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:00 — 3.7MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

When I was a child, I spent time with my great aunts. The aunties instructed my siblings and I in manners. Manners are important because they show consideration for other people. I learned to sit up straight at the table, to use my napkin and how to pass dishes around the table. Without their instruction, I could have been rude without even knowing it.

It is easy to be rude when you don’t know people’s expectations. I once worked for an international company. I travelled to different countries as a part of my job. Soon after I joined, I was given a book about all the different cultures in the world. It held interesting details about behavior considered rude in each culture. For example, in some places it is rude to cross your legs while seated. The problem isn’t the crossed legs, it is because you show the bottom of your shoe. That’s considered an insult. In other places how you beckon someone to join you with a hand gesture can be rude. It all depends on which way your fingers are pointing.

I Corinthians 13:5 tells us that love is not rude. That’s because love is considerate of others. It cares about the simple things like not using your speaker phone in a public place, chewing with your mouth open or stopping in the middle of a busy sidewalk or street to text. Today, make sure you show love by being polite.

How to leave a review: https://www.sparkingfaith.com/rate-and-review/

Visit Elmer Fuller’s author website at: https://www.elmerfuller.com/

Bumper music “Landing Place” performed by Mark July, used under license from Shutterstock.