What stood out to me today? Verse 29 says, "He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick tempered exalts folly."
Why did this verse stand out to me today? I had my annual review summary yesterday with my boss. In this review, my emotional control was flushed to the surface. I was made aware that I can sometimes lose control of my emotions, and they get the best of me.
How will I apply this to my life today? As you know, I am going to seminary. In one of my classes last year, I was told that anger is a secondary emotion. It is a reaction to something inside of my being hurt. Anger can come from embarrassment, it can come from being disrespected, betrayed, or a variety of other offenses. The point is that when I feel I am getting angry at a person, or in a situation, I need to step back and think about why am I so angry. Once I address those initial hurts I am feeling, I will then be able to respond to the situation in an appropriate way which will leave no one feeling hurt or like they have to walk on egg shells when they are around me.
This is not an easy thing to do, especially when I feel justified in my anger. When I feel that someone really deserves my wrath. But that is not a great place to be though. I never want to belittle someone because I feel they deserve to be put down. That is not how Jesus would respond to a situation. In my journey to be more like Jesus, I have to respond to situations in which I get angry slowly. I cannot let my emotions have their way with me.
I am curious to know if you have any reactions to this?
In His service, Crazy Pete
I am reading in Proverbs 14 today. I did not mention that! I will be in chapter 15 tomorrow! Thanks for reading!
ReplyDeleteHey Pete! I know personally anger can be a powerful and harmful emotion. I can get very emotional as well. Like I sometimes like to dwell in my sadness or anger. I am working on this too.
ReplyDeleteI was at a store the other day and the woman checking out infront of me was so rude to the cashier I couldn't believe it. She then answered her cell phone when the cashier was in mid-sentence. I couldn't believe it! I got pretty angry but tried not to show it. But when I got into the car where my dad was waiting I just went off on how mad and annoyed I was. Then I was annoyed the rest of the day. All because of some dumb little thing. I look back now and wish I would have handled it differently. I should have just ignored her and been as nice as I could to the cashier when it was my turn. Then I should have prayed for that rude woman. For all I know she was just having a bad day.
So again my emotions sometimes get the best of me as well. This is something I need to really work on because now that Hailey is at that stage where she sees and understands everything I need to really lead by example. She is like a little sponge and repeats and does everything we do.
I am reading this book written by Ray Comfort right now on how to raise your kids to come to Christ and how to keep them there. He says in the book that as a parents we should not be hypocrits. We can't teach our kids to be respectful, listen to their parents and things like that then turn around and get into sinful things and be disrespectful. I think this applies to you and your job at camp as well. You have to lead so much my example there. Those campers too are like little sponges.
I really enjoy your blog Pete! I admire your honesty. I will be praying for you!
Blessing
Mary
P.S. Say Hi to Becca for me! :)
Pete this is a great post! I too have a problem with getting angry too quickly. It is so hard for me to step back and look at the situation first or pray/think about it before I react.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately since it is just me and my daughter most the time I really need to fix that.
Not saying all I do is yell at her all day long but there are unfortunately days that I do yell at her. I've always had this quick temper and it's so hard to change after 30 something years! I just need to pray because I know that with His help it can be done!
Mary I still need to get that book! lol You've been talking about it for a long time and I still haven't gotten it!!
That is so true how we can't be 'hypocrits'!