The chances are good that before this day is over someone will do something that displeases you—to put it mildly. How will you respond? Naturally you can say what you think and engage in a verbal battle, but that just makes matters worse. Love looks for a way to be a peacemaker. I found the following in some of my notes that might be helpful to you. I don’t know the author, but what is said gives us food for thought.
“Irritability and hasty temper are so common, that people do not think much of them. We talk about them as a kind of harmless weakness, so common as to be almost permissible. Men apologize for their friends who are bad-tempered, as if it made little difference.
But really, irritability is a serious blemish on one’s character. Think of the hurt an ungoverned temper produces in homes where angry words fly like arrows, wounding gentle hearts. Think how an ill-tempered father or mother hurts the lives of children.
The time to get a sweet temperament is in youth. We have no right to say a harsh word anywhere, especially in our own home!
It was the custom of two particular sisters, that when one of them felt out of sorts, moody, or ill-tempered — she would go away by herself until the ugly mood had passed off.
This would be a good rule to adopt in every home. In place of sulking or showing sullenness, when we feel this miserable demon getting possession of us — we had better go away and fight the battle out alone where our harsh speech will hurt no other one!”
