I had never really thought of the impact of "volatility of emotions" on humility.
But it made sense, after I sat and gave it some thought. After all, when I am - as Isaac the Syrian notes - "Rash, hasty, perturbed, having hot and volatile thoughts", almost the last thing in my mind is being humble.
Why?
Well, rather embarrassingly, when I am in such moments almost the last thing I am thinking about it being humble, the other person, or even (sadly) my witness. What I am thinking about in most of those moments is me - my rights, my need to be right or vindicated, my "needs".
When I am emotional in such ways, my emotion clouds my ability to think about anything but myself. And thinking about myself first and foremost never leads to humility.
At least for myself, just another excellent reminder about how carefully managing my daily emotions and my inputs to those emotions can assist me in working on my humility - and Heaven knows I need every additional advantage I can give myself.
"having hot and volatile thoughts"......um..yah...that hits close to home TB. Humility is a 24/7 proposition.
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - If I (calmly) think about it, I realize that when I am the most "bothered", I am most likely to not think of anything but myself. That was an uncomfortable recognition.
DeleteReminds me of a JOY acrostic from the distant, dim past:
ReplyDeleteJesus first
Others second
Yourself last
I don't remember the context but 'yourself last' rang out in my wet-ware when reading the post.
Like everything, there is a spectrum. You can be on the humble arc, just not very far along, hopefully we are firmly on the path. Moses was called the most humble man ever, and he had a hot temper. Kept him from the Promised Land by blowing his top. "The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God."
Good meditation for the day, TB! Thank you!
I remember that acrostic, STxAR (bet it was on a flannelgraph at some point)!
DeleteMoses is actually a great reminder - probably better than anyone else in the Old Testament (although Elijah and Elisha come to mind). He saw the face of God and yet still was prevented from entering the Promised Land because of an incident with anger.
You are most welcome!
I would agree that unnecessary anger causes confusion, which leads to thoughtless and regrettable actions. But I do not think Moses lost his promise because of it. The story is told in Numbers 7 thru 12. To paraphrase: God tells him to speak to the rock, Moses asks the people must "WE" (emphasis mine) fetch you (the people) water out of this rock? He then strikes it twice and water comes forth. Then God tells him he will not enter the promised land because of his unbelief, and not acting as instructed which would give God the glory. If Moses was angry, we are not told. This act of disobedience was the reason for his loss, not anger. Actually, righteous anger is not condemned, we are only reminded to not permit it to last more than a day. (Do not let the sun go down etc.) I would also like to thank you for these Sunday posts. I look forward to them because they force me to reflect on my own uphill struggle to be less in my own eyes.
ReplyDeleteNumbers 20. 7 thru 12. My apologies.
DeleteSamuel - You are right that it is not specifically intuited as anger - that said, his response - the emphasis of "We" plus a long time dealing with a rather grumpy group of people as well as striking the rock instead of just speaking to it, as he was commanded - has always lead me in that direction.
DeleteAnd in complete agreement that we are not commanded never to be angry, only to have righteous anger. That said, my actual legitimate "righteous anger" average is about 0.0001%, so I almost never look to it.
Thank you for the kind words. Every writer wants to be read, and if I am helping in some small way in someone else's journey, it is enough.
Rage and regret go hand in hand.
ReplyDeleteIndeed John. I have never once, that I can think of, walked away with regret from a situation that I did not approach unthinkingly in rage or other wild emotion. Sad, perhaps, at the outcome, but not regret.
DeleteI have never been described as rash or hasty. Most would call me calm. But I do admit I get perturbed at times and think a whole lot of volatile thoughts which means I still have work to do on being humble.
ReplyDeleteEd, that strikes me true, at least what we see of your written persona.
DeleteAnd like you, I have a long ways to go.
I have been learning some about neural pathways, and how many of our go-to responses are so strong because of habit. In other words, the more we think (react) a certain way, the more we strengthen and reinforce that neural pathway. The trick is to build new ones which will shrink the old ones.
ReplyDeleteIt's a slow process, but somehow this concept gives me hope that I can gradually change.
That is interesting, Leigh. It gives credence to the rough and ready rule of simply stopping for a moment - interrupting the action, or the neural pathways as you note - and then reacting. Something that, like you, I find a slow process.
Delete