Nails In The Fence
NAILS IN THE FENCE (Author Unknown)
Someone sent me this story and I thought it was good enough to share with you. Think carefully as you read this story. 
There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.
The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.
Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually got smaller. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all.
He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.
The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.
The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.
He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence.
The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there."
A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. The thing that the little boy learned is that it is better to not say mean things in the first place.
Pro 14:29 He who is slow to be angry has great good sense; but he whose spirit is over-quick gives support to what is foolish. When we are angry we say hateful, mean things that we wish we hadn’t said once it is too late.
