Let me start by saying that by simply pointing this out I am something that annoys myself: I resent people who live their lives resentful of others. I get it. I'm a hypocrite.
But one of the things I've tried doing in recent years it letting go. Frozen taught me that, I guess? I don't have time to be continually angry about Trump, or about North Korean religious oppression, or the sex trade. I hate them all, and if I were dictator I'd do away with them all in a week. But moment-by-moment anger, holding onto stuff that I can't do much about? I've got too many other productive things I need to be doing, like raising my kids or loving my wife or preaching the gospel or ensuring the kids on my route get home safely.
Through the years in ministry I have occasionally come across people who live their lives as a series of resentments that they seek to frame as righteous outrage. Years ago there was a man in our church who continually brought up the poor and the outcast that we needed to be seeking out, and all the failures of the church and its people, and how nobody was nearly as passionate as he was, and why were we not outraged? 'The church doesn't...' or 'The government ought to...' or 'You don't...' was the beginning of every one of his conversations. In many ways I agreed with what he said, but his sense of Elijah complex ("They've killed all the prophets, and I'm the only one left!") caused me to tune him out after awhile, because a)either he did nothing about those things or b)anything he did do was so poorly thought out or self-righteous in its promotion that if anything it was counter-productive. Eventually this man disappeared from my radar, and it was of him that I said, "When you burn bridges, don't be surprised when there's nobody left to help you across the river."
Recently I have had somebody new in my life who has filled this role. Maybe it's just that they try to find a place in small churches, or maybe I am more tolerant of listening to them than some (but, oh, Lord, forgive me for my thoughts and my occasional acidic responses). But sometimes people seem drawn to me as if I really want to hear their various resentments. For this person it's Trump, the Church of Christ of their youth, a preacher that was a creep, racism in general, and a half dozen other things (with something new everytime)...and they go back and forth in such a non-rational manner that after five minutes you've completely lost track of the rant. All the while, as you hold your tongue and wonder how you can extricate yourself, you recognize that this person isn't really talking with you, as most normal people do, but they talk AT you, as if you are the punching bag they have stumbled across at this moment with which they can take out their aggression.
My son regularly makes fun of Frozen, especially since they are having a money-grab sequel coming out later this year. I guess that's what 11-year-old boys do. But the message of let it go is something that so many people need. Hold something so tight to you and eventually you will crush it. It's not just enough to talk out your resentment at whoever is patient (or stupid) enough to let it continue on and on and on. Eventually, you have to make some progress with it, and choose to no longer hold it so tightly to your chest.
Want to hold onto a statement that somebody made in passing (and with no ill will) 25 years previously? I'm sorry, what good does that do you? We all screw up in the things that we say. But if we only remember the worst of what somebody said to us, then eventually we will be alone, screaming at the dark and empty void. That's no way to live life...God gave us one another to enjoy, not so that we could rage upon each other. Let it go.
