“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” James 1:19-20
Life has been keeping me rather busy lately as a lot of things have needed to be done by deadline. Always thinking, weighing and planning, my world was suddenly thrown into a sudden shock as if a circuit breaker had been tripped and everything had stopped! Shocked at something my wife said to me, I reacted! When all that brain flow was suddenly diverted, it just dumped out…all over HER!
This Christmas season came with lots of electrical failures, as many decorations and electrical gizmos either no longer work, or QUIT working after being up for a while! Which is NOT a third world problem! After all, more money, a reset of the breaker or a toss in a trash can CAN solve most ANY problem. But THIS one…this BRAIN BURP was going to take more effort!
Being married for as long as we have, we RARELY see ugly in our relationship. So when that disgusting monster pops in, he is ALWAYS shocking and immediately out of place. But strangely, I have found that, like a switch on a circuit breaker, he tends to point out a potential problem I may not have even seen coming! Which can prevent a BIGGER problem later on.
Every emotion is given to us by God for a REASON! There is NOTHING bad about ANY of them. They are pointers that indicate something is wrong that needs to be addressed. Sometimes it is within us, and sometimes it is on the outside. When a negative emotion is triggered, it’s a signal for immediate investigation and repair.
As a Believer, I have a couple current monitors. My own heart has God-built onboard systems that signal when something is overheating. As a Believer, I also have the Holy Spirit, and God’s written Word, to regulate the finer issues of life. God is my boss and HE has expectations from me. When I don’t meet them, He reminds me. Which is not a bad thing!
In retrospect, I am grateful for that ugly monster’s visit. I spent much of yesterday rehearsing and replaying what happened, and then asking myself WHY…. NOT to try to shift blame, but to take responsibility and learn from MY part in the meltdown. After all, when Katie married me…SHE got the ‘SHORT’ end of the circuit! I’m glad to say that, after much introspection, we’re humming along now!
