Forebearance by Samuel Coleridge

Gently I took that which ungently came, and without scorn forgave;
Do thou the same.
A wrong done to thee think a cat's-eye-spark thou wouldst not see,
were thine own heart dark.
Thine own keen sense of wrong that thirsts for sin, fear that -
the spark self kindled from within, which blown upon will blind thee
with its glare, or smothered stifle thee with noisome air.
Clap on the extinguisher, pull up the blinds, and soon the ventilated spirit finds
its natural daylight.
If a foe have kenn'd, or worse than foe, an alienated friend, a rib of dry rot in
thy ship's stout side, think it God's message, and in humble pride with a heart
of oak replace it. Thine the gains. Give him the rotten timber for his pains!

Ok. This poem has been a very good visual help to me at times. I find that I need to be reminded that God is sovereign. He uses painful moments to reveal Himself to me. To reveal myself to me. To let me understand that I have a pretty big problem with the way I assess what happens to me. And the kindest thing God can do is to relieve me of lots of that self-absorbed, self-protecting, self-excusing posture. That a foe or alienated friend could conjure up wrong for me is a sad tale indeed. But God wants me to know about myself that instead of grief being awakened to that condition in another, I want revenge and justification. I'd be pretty happy if a glaring light were shone on their sin, and my hard and burning reactions were undetected.

And He is after a different revelation. One that exchanges my 'noisome air' for peace and unshakable love. A much better fragrance.