it's a warning light...

a pastor was preparing a message on anger. he sat down with his wife and said, “maybe to get ready for this, it would be helpful for me, could we talk about the top five arguments that we’ve had throughout our marriage? go into depth and detail about these arguments.” he said that was stupid! that was not a good idea. that was a very painful afternoon. we figured we hadn’t solved all of them.

but he did say, “we did learn a couple of things. one of them was that most of our arguments were about tiny, insignificant details because we were tired. we were worn out. one of our biggest arguments was about hanging wallpaper. if you think your relationship has reached a level of intimacy where you can hang wallpaper, it hasn’t. don’t go there! one of our greatest arguments ever was whether the top button of my shirt should be buttoned or not when hanging in my closet. she wanted it buttoned because it would make everything neat in there. i wanted it unbuttoned to get it out really quick in the morning.

he said, we just needed to say, “let’s take a break. realize that we’re both tired.” give each other some grace in this circumstance.

folks, some days you’re just grumpy because you’re tired, and you just need to say, “GOD, help me keep my mouth shut today!” that’s the best prayer in the world that you could pray. get some rest. a quick temper is a warning light. if you have a quick temper, it’s a warning light. it’s saying: get some rest. take a break. slow down.

just a thought from the front porch…