Proverbs 15:18
Losing your temper causes a lot of trouble, but staying calm settles arguments.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
I
don’t know how she did it. I don’t know how Diamond Reynolds was able
to remain calm and do a Facebook live stream of the aftermath from the
shooting of her boyfriend, Philando Castille, who sat beside her in the
front seat of her car in a Minneapolist/St. Paul suburb. Reynolds’
four-year-old daughter was in the back seat. And as the police officer
shouted at this child’s mother to keep her hands visible, she politely
said, “I will, sir. No worries. I will.”
I don’t know how
Reynolds kept her composure as she cried out to God and asked that her
boyfriend not die. I have to believe that every fiber of her being
wanted to scream and rail in agony at what was unfolding. And while I
do not mean to pass judgment on either party in this horrific incident…I
do believe that this woman’s calm demeanor prevented further escalation
– and maybe more injuries or casualties.
While I hope and pray
that we are never on either side of a confrontation where one person is
pointing a gun at another, there is a lesson here for all of us. Because
you see, every single day, in many ways, we “point the gun” at someone
and begin to scream our harsh words and loud protests. Every day,
someone rails against another person with vile language and loud
rants…and that person has a choice about how to react. He/she can join
in and allow the yelling and screaming to escalate into a free-for-all
and potential disaster. Or the conscious choice can be made to remain
calm and proceed with caution and measured reason.
You and I
make choices every day about how we will react to others. And often,
those choices involve whether to “yell and scream” – or to ask God to
fill us with calm, kindness and a rational demeanor in our responses.
The outcome may not be literally a matter of life and death…but it has
spiritual – and possibly eternal – consequences. We simply cannot
afford to risk such dire results…this is not God’s desire for us.
I
have to believe that God surrounded Diamond Reynolds with a spirit of
calm and resolve as chaos ensued all around her. Today, ask God to give
you this same spirit of calm – and a heart filled with kindness, mercy
and compassion, even when others are “yelling and screaming” all around
you. Ask God to equip you with the wisdom and gentleness of spirit to
moderate situations in which tempers could flare and chaos could erupt.
And ask Him to make you an instrument of peace for others. God wants
us to get this right. Will this be the day that we begin?
©2016 Debbie Robus
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