Encouragement

---

DAILY/EVENING REFLECTIONS

Proverbs 29
8 Mockers stir up a city, but wise men turn away anger.

Proverbs 30
33 For as churning the milk produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood,
so stirring up anger produces strife."

I have to confess to something I am at loathe to admit. I have a wee bit of a temper.

Okay, okay, in reality, when I explode, it is like Mt St Helens! Now peripherally I have known this about myself for some time, God has showed this to me, but I think I have never really addressed it. We hate to look in the mirror at times. It is always easier to blame others for their shortcomings than to examine our own.
And when we notice these things, it is even harder to correct them because we have a hard time dealing with and or facing them.

I blame my penchant for the occasional flare up on many things-my passionate artistic nature, outside influences and genetic make up. But in the end, we are all responsible for how we respond to others.

Nothing illustrates that point so well as a not too long ago encounter with a fellow brother in Christ. This individual and I had a misunderstanding that escalated because I didn’t have the presence of mind to stop.

I wanted to force an acknowledgement of his wrongness and my rightness. I wanted, nay demanded an apology-a pound of flesh wasn’t enough, I needed blood.

I stopped and examined the reason behind my anger and found that, besides pride, there was some thing lingering in my psyche that needed addressing.

Nonetheless, there was a bit of a humbling moment when I had to acknowledge the simple fact: Whatever the reason for my anger, I was more in the wrong for giving in to it and not expressing myself in a positive manner, no matter my personal feelings. One has to learn to channel their emotions constructively, especially anger.

Even if we are in the right, it is always best to examine the reasons behind what we do than to give in to our baser instincts. With level headed thinking and pure motivations, we may even be able to turn an enemy into a friend.

I suppose I need to pray and ask the lord to show me if my reaction to a given situation is of the flesh and needs to be rebuked, and to strive always to recognize and control my temper should it flare. This will aid in becoming more like Christ in my walk.

All of us have something to work on, and for different reasons. We can do nothing of our selves alone, we must ask for aid from the Father and he will help us through the hard process of growth and change-ARN under the direction of THS.

EVENING REFLECTION

I felt under the circumstances an evening reflection on the topic of love and forgiveness was especially apropos!

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.

It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

~Bible~

I Corinthians 13:4-8

Eric Hoffer
The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbor as ourselves: we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others when we hate ourselves. We are tolerant toward others when we tolerate ourselves. We forgive others when we forgive ourselves. We are prone to sacrifice others when we are ready to sacrifice ourselves.
Jessamyn West

It is very easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit and gumption to forgive them for having witnessed your own.

FUNNY BONE YARD

He's going to Heaven

Father Murphy walks into a pub in Donegal, and says to the first man he meets, "Do you want to go to heaven?"

The man said, "I do Father."

The priest said, "Then stand over there against the wall."

Then the priest asked the second man, "Do you want to got to heaven?"

"Certainly, Father," was the man's reply.

"Then stand over there against the wall," said the priest.

Then Father Murphy walked up to O'Toole and said, "Do you want to go to heaven?"

O'Toole said, "No, I don't Father."

The priest said, "I don't believe this. You mean to tell me that when you die you don't want to go to heaven?"

O'Toole said, "Oh, when I die, yes. I thought you were getting a group together to go right now

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE