A Gentle Reminder

I woke up this morning the same way I went to bed - anxious. Someone miscommunicated something to me to which another person took great offense. I wasn't at fault nor was the original person because they had no ill-intent in the communication. It was really such a minor thing in the grand scheme of life so I couldn't figure out what was causing the third party such turmoil.

I could only assume that there was something going on behind the scenes that I didn't know about. However, given my propensity to not like it when people are upset with me it was hard not to want to justify myself and to fix it.

I found myself wanting to keep emailing a defense and somehow the more I tried to fix the situation the worse I kept making it. I finally did what I should have done to begin with. I told the person that I was sorry I didn't come to them directly for the information I needed for a report. I tried my best to affirm them in the role they are in. And then I tried to let it go and go to sleep! That's the part that isn't so easy.

However, this morning as I was reading during my quiet time, this verse popped out at me from Proverbs 15:1 ~ A gentle answer turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath.

So often when someone comes at us in anger, we respond in kind. And yet, when we keep calm and do our best to not respond with gentleness it generally diffuses the situation. Overall, my little fire was snuffed out because even though I was having an inner battle, I kept calm and responded well. 

And that also requires humility. Our human nature wants to demand our rights, our side, our point of view. We want to make sure that another isn't thinking something wrong about us. But when we allow pride to get in the way and insist on speaking our side of the story it often just keeps those angry feelings going.

I did my morning walk in my favorite place and found my inner peace being restored. There was a chill in the air, but the sun was out, the birds were singing and calmness was restored. I'm thankful for little reminders found in God's word just at the right time and for just the right circumstances.