Better to be patient than a warrior,
and better to have self-control than to capture a city.
and better to have self-control than to capture a city.
Proverbs 16:32
Have you ever noticed that when something happens knee-jerk responses are the first things we hear about? Let's say, some pizza restaurant owner decides that his employees deserve to have a day off and chooses that day to be Thursday. Within hours, there are reports and speculations as to why the owner chose Thursday. Then come those I Love Thursday people who demand a boycott of the restaurant because they "have a right" to eat pizza at this restaurant (which they now despise) on Thursday. Then there's a call to boycott pizza! And on and on and on.....the knee-jerk responses get weirder and weirder!
Have we lost our senses? Have we lost the ability to actually think rather than overreact? Okay, granted if you kick me in the shin, I'm liable to say some quite unclergy things and probably kick you back. But we, as a group, seem to want to take things to the extreme!
When does it stop? What would have happened if, when Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, God decided not only would Adam and Eve would be destroyed, but He destroyed the Garden, then the world, then the Universe? Overreaction perhaps?
Patience is, like all virtues, learned (and not very easily, I might add). If we took the time to think about how our actions impact, not just us, but everyone else, we would be a lot calmer.
I looked back at the Mother Emmanuel shooting and saw how the congregation members, family members, faith community members, and city members all came together in peace. Were they hurting? ABSOLUTELY! But they did not encourage riots, they did not call for retaliation, they did not trash and burn Charleston. They came together to comfort one another! THAT takes calm. THAT takes patience. THAT takes love!
Take time to think! Thank about how many times Scripture states, "Peace be with you"
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