“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” ~ Proverbs 15:1 (NIV – emphasis mine)Ah, yes gentleness – seen as weakness by world’s standards. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in a heated battle of words not to be gentle. You want to get even when someone yells at you.
I have been in situations when someone got very angry. Not necessarily at me, but because of a certain situation. So what do you do when someone hurls insults at you? Do you get angry as well? Our first impulse (at least for many, myself included) is “yes”!
Have you ever used your gift of gentleness in situations like that? If you are in an argument with someone, stop and pray for the Spirit to fill you with His gentleness. If we react on our first impulse, this argument can get out of hand and we might say something that we later regret. Let Him guide you to speak a gentle word. Is is amazing what can happen. For one thing, both of you will come down. And maybe the person who got angry in the first place will be more open to listen to you. I know it is not easy to say something gentle to someone who is angry. But let me assure you, it is well worth it. You are His light in this world ~ let it shine!
I want to leave you today with a passage from Paul’s letter to Colosse:
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” ~ Colossians 3:12-13 (NIV – emphasis mine)
Please remember to submit your entry by Tuesday, January 31st 2006 by 3pm EST. You can find the details regarding your submission here…I am honored to be your hostess this week.
Wendy directed me to come here!
This is a great post, and gentleness is something I’ve had to work on (and pray over) a LOT! Even online, sometimes my first inclination is to just jump into the fray. This goes hand in hand with my other issue, the need to be right, yikes!
As I’m getting older, and as God is working on me, I see more and more that most situations just aren’t deal with effectively by wrath. Nor is it a good witness to anyone to be that Christian lady who flies off the handle a lot!
:-/ So, I pray and pray, and it really makes a difference.
Not that you needed to know all that, but this post really got me thinking, thank you!
I seem to be going backwards as far as the gentle spirit goes. Long story but we are not actually in a church fellowship any longer and probably won’t be for a long time to come.
( the auditions got a bit messed up with people getting skipped so I sent Me just in case you got skipped this round)
Ahh…the meek and gentle spirit is of such a great price, isn’t it. The people that are naturally gentle don’t realize how fortunate they are.
I for one, being the type “A” personality have been working to refine that gentleness for a long time. Praise God that He is patient! 🙂
Thank you ladies for stopping by. I truly appreciate your kind comments.
Jen – I enjoyed reading your comment 🙂
Wendy – as always, thank you for ‘calling me to audition’. I so much enjoy discovering new blogs.
Janna – Yes praise Him for His patience – I sure don’t have it. 🙂
This reminded me of a parenting class I took in the 80s. The teacher told me when I was going to yell at my kids, it was okay to yell, “I love you!” instead of something else.
What a beautiful blog.
Wendy directed me here, I come from Nova Scotia.
Thank you, Iris, for your words of wisdom and for hosting this week’s carnival. God bless you. – Donna
Very convicting, Iris! James describes me when it talks about the tongue. “The tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity…”
Thanks for hosting!
Carmen
I needed to read this yesterday lol!
Thank you for this insight Iris! And thank you for hosting this week!
Thank you ladies for stopping by…
I was an honor for me to host the carnival.
Thinking back on writing this post on gentleness – I started with a different verse all together, but somehow it ended up this way. I guess Someone thought I needed to talk about anger. Little did I know that I blow my top a day later after writing this post…