Emotion Commotion: Turn The Other Cheek

Hello and welcome to the first edition of Emotion Commotion. I am Lady Rachel from Gracious Reviews. My hope is that you will gain something from this and future articles you read in this column. I hope that you will be encouraged to change in some way that is displeasing to the Lord. I myself am hoping to gain something from my writings. I hope that you enjoy your stay here. I am going to write this first article about anger. I have a big problem with anger. A lot of people do. So, here is what is in my heart.

Sometimes I spend of lot of time by myself. I am talking about reading, writing, and just talking to myself. I like baking and cooking by myself. The bad thing about this that when I am angry or mad with someone, I usually go into a 'silent' mode with them, and don't want to have anything to do with them. People then read my blog, and what do they think?

I have had people tell me they like my blog because of the peaceful atmosphere to it. I am sometimes called a mature young lady for my age. I do that with a lot of my friends blogs too. I don't even think that they could be like me and have bad attitudes and get grounded. You know why people think we are so sweet and perfect? Because we don't post the bad things that happen. Why would we want to? That would shine a bad light on who we are. But I do get angry at people, and I am mean and selfish.

Another thing I do that my friends would not guess about me is I have tried to play the 'blonde' game with my family. The 'blonde' game is very simple to play. All you do is act like you don't know what you are doing. I used to ask questions to which I already know the answer. Once I got into the habit of asking 'blonde' questions, it was hard to get out of it. I got into trouble for it a lot. I try to do that with conversation too sometimes. Just talk about something that was already discussed so I could have a part in the conversation.

Need I tell you that this makes people frustrated when I do it? I now know that it is frustrating, because sometimes my eight-year-old sister does it. She got that bad habit from watching me do it. I can remember about three or fours years ago that Mom and I were in the school house, and I was looking at a map of the U.S., and I said, "New Mexico. Mom where does Grandma live?" I knew where she lived: New Mexico. That was the time I realized how frustrated she was with the deceitfulness of that game. It was such a bad habit of mine that I had a hard time stopping from doing it. I realize now that I just wanted to have something to say that would make me feel like I was important. I had not yet realized that I was DIS-pleasing the Lord, not pleasing him. When we do things, we should say to ourselves, "Am I pleasing God with my actions and what is going to come out of my mouth?"

I have to remember that when I get so mad when my older sister shirks off the responsibility of doing dishes or barn chores. It has been built into her way of thinking that 'someone else will do that, so why do I need to?' Sometimes, usually after I have been cleaning for a few hours, I will get to thinking this way. I will usually go in and do whatever dishes are there, or make dinner or take Blondie (my doggy) outside. I am usually the one who says, 'Time for chores. Feed the chickens.' I am not trying to brag, but I am trying to give you a little what I am thinking. I get so angry when I am trying to get things cleaned up, and I just want some help from my younger siblings when they won't help me. It's frustrating. I feel like I have no power to make them do as I want. Then I am be bossy with them if they ignore me.

Just in the last week or so, I have been a little angrier at things around the house than usual. I think what has made me most mad was the fact that I cleaned something up, and I come back five minutes later, and it is a mess again. I usually show when I am mad, you know, by acting mad, talking meanly. Mom just recently told me "It is excellent to not show when you are mad by not acting like you are mad." I don't think I will ever forget that. Mom read us a chapter out of Romans I thought was very interesting. It was chapter 12. Mom made these few verses a point to us:

19Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
20Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
21Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

So we are told to not be mean to our enemy, but to show him kindness, and it will heap coals of fire on his head. I learned from those few verses that if someone has made you mad, and they expect you to be mad at them, do not be mad at them. If that person wants to make you more mad by saying something or doing something to make you mad, turn away from it, let them slap you on the right cheek as well as the left one.

21Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

We need to realize that we probably make our parents mad at us a lot. Writing this article has made me realize that most times, my Mother has to hold back an abundance of wrath. Have you ever thought about that? Have you thought about pushing your parents to the limit? When I see one of my younger siblings being corrected, I can sometimes see how frustrated my Mom is getting. I see what I do to her when she is correcting me, and when I am intentionally being frustrating.
So I say to you in closing this article, still in Romans, chapter 12:

19Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
The Lord will judge all, He is righteous above all men. He will give justice where it is due. We must not take it in our own hands. This one verse says a lot:
18If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

And also, Proverbs 16:32

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty;
and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

Nahum 1:3

The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

Thank you for reading Emotion Commotion. :) Be sure to check back next month for another edition. May God bless you and keep you.