Apple Macbook Pro Message App hanging

Recently, the messages app on my Macbook pro started hanging. I had no idea what caused it and thought it was related to a recent software upgrade (to El Capitan.)

The app would open, then go into the "spinning wheel" mode where nothing happened at all. It seemed to last forever and my only option was to do a "force quit." I had to rely on my phone to send/receive messages.

After several days of searching, I finally found the thread with the answer:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7408309?start=0&tstart=0

It turns out the problem is due to the Contacts app. I had contacts enabled for both my icloud and gmail accounts. When I turned off icloud (as I have over 1500 in gmail) then restarted Messages, the problem was no more.

Ralph, I don't know you but God bless you!