My Moving Story: Dealing with a Bad Temper

Yes, this is my floor. Arrrggggh! 

I hate moving things. 

Furniture, boxes, and carting back and forth is annoying to me. I especially hate moving large things like refrigerators, washers and dryers. 

Then, in one month we get a new refrigerator and a new washer and dryer. (New for us anyway.) 

Thank you Lord for providing such wonderful gifts. 

Yet, they sat in the garage for a few weeks, because getting them in and out of the house required rearranging and cleaning and Randy and I were being lazy. 

The truth is, my family hates having me move things too. I get cranky. No, I get down right irritable. I grumble, I gripe, I sometimes (often) yell. 

I do not know why I am that way. I get frustrated with the "a little more to your right" and "I think I can make it fit" statements that usually end up with someone being slightly injured or some giant whole created where there should never be one. Case in point: my floor this weekend. 

I was not a happy camper. Yep, that is my laminate floor with a giant rip in it right by the front door. Since this runs through my whole house, it would be almost impossible to match (since it is years old) and expensive to replace. I can honestly say I was angry. 

So angry I almost said a naughty word. 

I didn't. Barely. 

My Issue 

Everyone has their issues, and one of mine is a temper. I admit it. Feeling anger is okay. There is a way to feel angry and not loose it. Right now I can honestly say, I do not always win the battle when it comes to emotions. 

We all are human. We all have emotions. I know how hard it is to rein in those feelings, but if we do not control them, they end up controlling us. 

"Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil." Ephesians 4:25-27

Unchecked anger leads to strife and where there is strife, the Bible says "there is every evil work". We cannot expect our lives to be bastions of Christian tranquility when inside we seethe in anger. 

I had to take a break from the moving in order to get myself under control. Then I had to apologize to my husband, who witnessed my "venting" of emotion. Let's face it, he was not the witness, he was the target of my anger. That was not right. That is why he deserved an apology. 

When I asked him to forgive me and apologized for acting so poorly, he said "At least you recognize you do it now. For years you did not even know you did this, and it made things difficult."  

For years...translation: my whole marriage. More than 18 years Randy has put up with my fly off the handle temper. Wow..... 

In the scheme of all things eternal: in matters of life and death, this whole in my flooring does not matter. It will not keep anyone from hearing the Gospel and it will not save anyone's soul. When I think of it this way, I see that it is just a temporal thing and I can let go of the anger I felt without thinking twice. 

God is changing me. Bit by bit. He can change you too. Just yield to Him. Ask Him to show you the things that are holding you back, and making your life harder than it needs to be. It isn't easy looking into God's mirror. It shows us exactly where we fall short. That is why grace is so amazing. It fills in the gap and makes a way for love to work in us until we are perfected. (I will let you know if I ever get there.....but you will be waiting a LONG time.) 

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