Offense

 

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” ~ Viktor E.Frankl

I did not set out to write a series on silence, but I’m back with episode number 3 on silence! And the last of them too.

We are living in an age of offense. Quick to anger, quick to speak seems to be the guiding principle for many people whether in person and mostly online. It probably gave birth to the cancel culture that has seen so many people face a harsh judge, jury, and executioner in the public space.  

Many people do not listen. Listening is hard work and few of us are equipped to even know where to start. I read a book some years back about how to decode body language and it was a fascinating read. (Too bad I did not study and memorize it.) Listening is about hearing both what is and what is not being said. Hearing words, hearing tone, emotion, and facial expressions. It is piecing together the context that the speaker is coming from and trying to get into their shoes to understand their level of passion or lack of it as they communicate.

Granted most times we don’t have the luxury of time to consider all that, but, we are still responsible for our response. Therefore, would it not be better to allow silence to fill the space before we respond? Take some time to formulate a response, and to organize what has just hit you.

The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about anger and specifically why we should be slow to anger. These are just a few of the references I found.

§  Proverbs 14:29 Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly. ESV

§  Proverbs 15:18 A hot-tempered man stirs up strife. But he who is slow to anger and patient calms disputes. AMP

§  Proverbs 16:32 A person who is patient is better than a brave soldier. If you can control your anger, you can win any battle. EASY

§  Proverbs 17:27 A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered. NLT

§  Proverbs 19:11 Insightful people restrain their anger; their glory is to ignore an offense. CEB

Many times people say or do things that cause us to feel resentment and want to seek revenge whether through actions or equally hurtful words. But before you do, ask yourself if it is worth it to stoop to that level or if would it be more noble to keep your peace and leave them wondering. I take comfort in the promise of Deuteronomy 32:35. In the Amplified Bible it reads, “Vengeance is mine, and retribution. In due time their foot will slip. For the day of their disaster is at hand, and their doom hurries to meet them.”

Read Viktor Frankl’s quote again, the last of the human freedoms is the ability to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances. Slow to speak, slow to anger.

“No behavior on our part is more self-centered than the demand to speak and the refusal to listen.” ~ Robert E. Fisher

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On Pain

Image
  On Pain Kahlil Gibran, 1883 – 1931 And a woman spoke, saying, Tell us of Pain. And he said: Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief. Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore, trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility:   For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,   And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay whic...
Read more

Out for Service

Hi readers. Unfortunately the musings are at still at the garage and return date is still out in the clouds. I found a great quote that put this pause into perspective for me. As you hold out patiently, I'd love for you think about the things that look like unnecessary curve balls in your life today. Are they really?  Enjoy the archives, luckily they are rich in content as we wait for a return.  " The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own' or 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life - the life God is sending one day by day. " ~ C.S. Lewis CG
Read more

Horse and Buggy Days

Image
  “ I am old enough to enjoy a bit of nostalgia, but wise enough to know that there haven’t been any “good ol’ days” since Eden (the garden, not the prime minister). ” ~ Ron Brackin During my devotion this week, I found myself reminiscing about the ‘good ol’ days’. One of the verses I’d read had put me in that frame of mind and I rested there a while before reality called me back. The verse was from Habakkuk 3:2, which reads “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.” (NIV) I had been reading a news article before I read my Bible that day, and it’s easy to see why that verse jumped out at me and sent me into the land of Nostalgia. Things are bad and so much is not working out. Time is moving but not much else is. Problems are mounting and solutions are few. So yes, I remember the days when prayers were answered; when miracles were popping all around me; when it was one...
Read more