Hello friends.
How many caught the typo in last week’s post, “Seeing the Future—Not”? It was in the reference to the passage in Ecclesiastes. I could say I put it there just to see who’s checking. Fortunately (or unfortunately) no one looked it up. I meant 10:14, “No one knows what’s coming.” but what I wrote was 10:4. That one says, “If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your post; calmness can lay great errors to rest.”
Maybe no one brought it up because they thought I’d lose my temper.
That’s a joke!
But you know how some people get all worked up about some trifle and make you feel like throwing in the towel. Very quickly it becomes flight or fight and either one can only make things worse.
If we’re smart we’ll put weights on our feet, a filter on our lips, and stand there like a statue . . . like Michelangelo’s David, with stone in hand but never throwing it.
It’s not easy, but the person that can keep his cool while in the direct path of a blow torch may come out the one least burned.
It takes two people for a fight, and if one just won’t, the finish bell will sound and no one will be knocked out, or even bruised.
I don’t know about you but I’ve been on both sides of this equation. All three, really, if you consider the angered, the angered back, or the angered-at that’s calm.
I will say that when I’ve been angered, justified or not, and acted it out, it’s rare when I haven’t felt the worse for it later. Or even earlier if the person receiving the brunt took the quiet approach and chose to be altogether gracious. That tends to change everything.
So what if the commander is onerous; don’t go AWOL. It’ll be worse for everybody, and you most of all.
As Jesus said, “Be angry and sin not.”
Accusations happen, but don’t walk off the job.
You’ll be the bigger person.
_________
Next Post: The e-gallery, the “monthly” art update.
Also, this Thursday evening Anne will be the featured artist in Sandstone Gallery at the Laguna Beach Art Walk. All welcome.
Our Lives Together
Its About Life
9:24 am
Hyatt: I am always amazed and surprised by how God finds a way of speaking into your life. Just yesterday, in a business setting, I was confronted by the things that you speak of in this post. Angered, responded in kind, then contemplated night and into today about the fight or flight decision. How calm I feel now after hearing God’s words. Thanks be to God for his continued guidance and thanks to you for putting gods pen to paper.
10:07 am
Hi Hyatt! Love this one on anger! Yes, I have been in all three positions. It is best in the anger-at calm mode. Love the verse in Psalm 141:3 “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips,” asking God daily to put a watch over my mouth that our words are few and pure. Loved that message! Confirms and ties in beautifully with yours. Have a blessed day in beautiful Southern California! Love Love Love Lisa
10:27 am
Hyatt, I feel so rewarded by your words of wisdom and am truly grateful that you are so familiar with the Word of God. Your Blank Slate is like a great dose of special nutrition for the soul and contemplation for the mind. Thank you for the reminder of Jesus: “Be angry and sin not.”
2:30 pm
Good words of wisdom–again! The first thing we should do when receiving criticism, whether “constructive” or “other” :-), we ought to ask ourselves if there is anything we can learn from it… respond, rather than react. Thanks Hyatt.
5:41 pm
Loved this one too! I’ve been on the receiving end and found it best NOT to argue – just let the other person run down and still say “good morning” the next day and it will confuse them enough so they drop a lot of the attitude!
9:45 pm
Does hanging up on someone qualify as leaving my post? Hmm… customer service…always a tough one. I told Mark once that I’d found a new verse for myself: “Set a watch over my lips, oh, Lord, and a guard over my mouth.” He suggested I might need a whole army! So true. Bring it on, Lord!
9:47 pm
I was having a debate with an authority-type figure person just the other day about this matter. Her position is that getting angry is non-productive, and that remaining calm (except for complaining about it to others, of course) is the method of choice because anything other than this does “no good.” And this is where it ends for her. I mean, she clearly remains at least annoyed, if not downright angry, about the this-and-that that comes up in her everyday life. I am thinking that this is because her variety of “calmness” emerges from a sense of hopelessness vs. an understanding of the Truth. It seems to me that becoming angry, and yet remaining calm, promotes the very state of stillness that allows God to communicate and have His way with us. There is nothing like it in the world. Learning how to facilitate and allow the silence, especially in the face of human-type anger, creates the perfect setting for Him to instruct us in how to proceed. As I consider these comments I am making, I realize again that the prescription for change we have in the Word precedes and pervades any contemporary wisdom/non-wisdom regarding the matter. Thank you, Hyatt. Putting these thoughts out there is an unexpected outcome of a seemingly productive day.
10:57 pm
Proverbs says, “Watch over your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” This type of adrenalin/anger rush you refer to, Hyatt, is like a clot, that hinders and sometimes halts the flow of God’s graces and love in one’s life. That which grudges, or gnaws away, or frets us can take root and pollute the waters and, if left be, turn us headstrong and cynical, without joy. Best be confrontive, in love, when this kind of anger is at our door. Once allowed in, it’s a heck of a problem-child to deal with, and its dominating effects are way underrated!
2:05 pm
Hi Hyatt
Keep up the ministry of sharing both in Word and deed as well as showing the image of God in your gift of creativity in your paintings.
Ephesians 4:26 The Apostle Paul encouraging the church by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
We love living in Montana…we are about two miles from where St. Peter sits at the Gate and welcomes believers into heaven…you’ve heard of Glacier National Park…right! Ron & Eila
9:34 am
Once again, your words resonate. Even though it may not be 100% where I’m at, I find that God speaks to me through you in some way. Your teachings are not merely philosophical but I find them to have a practical wisdom that is really needed for artists that may be missing some of the ‘wisdom’ chip from time to time. LOL.
Thanks.
Carmen
7:31 pm
I’m SOOOooo disappointed. Not in your verbal touch; art indeed. Not in your gallery, always alive with the “more verve” of your January soliloquay. But in the stray electrons that had me making plans to be with you this weekend sharing tea and cookies…until I looked again at the date. That was a November open house. Darn unsteady mouse.
Carolyn and I are staying the weekend at the Marine Corps beach, San Onofre. We have a new little travel trailer, and it’s our favorite getaway. Without knowing it, I passed through Laguna today, Thursday, when Anne was somewhere along the clutter road letting people enjoy the glory of His gift in her.