There was a large long necked jar with a small opening that contained a peanut. One day a monkey came along and spied the jar. "O boy" he thought, "I'm going to get me a peanut." He quickly ran his slender open hand through the small opening in the jar and clasped it around the peanut. However, his hand with the peanut had now become a large fist, and try as he would, he could not remove his prize from the jar.

He did not have the intelligence to know that in order to be released from the trap that he was in he was going to have to forget about the peanut and just let it go! But he didn't have the intelligence to do that, so he remained trapped. Visualize a monkey walking around all bent over, dragging a large jar around for the rest of his life - simply because he loved that peanut so much that he couldn't just let it go!

People are supposed to be smarter than monkeys. However, sometimes we don't act like it. Many years ago someone hurt our feelings about something and we haven't been able to just let it go. We have been walking about with a clenched fist letting it fester in our minds. It is never far from our minds, and is a burden that we have been dragging around. Like the monkey and the jar, we are going to have to just let it go in order to get out of the trap that we are in. Why don't we just talk to the Lord about it and ask for His help. He will help us. And when we unclench our fist, and replace it with an open hand of love, we will be released from the trap that we have been in, and we will feel much better than that dumb monkey!