Monday, October 3, 2011

Follow God's Lead

Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. For it is written, “I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it,” says the Lord.

-- Romans 12:19 (Deuteronomy 32:35)

Restraint has never been my strong point. I’m one to speak first and then -- sometimes -- regret it. How about you? Do you speak or act first or do you weigh your words and actions before you do anything?

I’ve been participating in a Beth Moore Bible study on David. He showed remarkable restraint in dealing with Saul. Many times David could have ended Saul’s life but he wouldn’t do it. Even though Saul kept trying to end David’s life, David would not harm God’s anointed king. Instead, David waited for God to take care of the matter in His own time.

I was reviewing my lesson when that word “restraint” just popped out at me. Funny how that works. I’d completely forgotten about it just a short time earlier. Or maybe I didn’t. I simply decided to calm down before I dealt with an unpleasant issue. I asked God to help me. Maybe that wasn’t real restraint but it was a step forward for me.

Of course, I’ll have the opportunity to practice more restraint tomorrow. I am not being unreasonable. Truly. I simply find it infuriating that a neighbor apparently thinks it’s okay to toss his limbs and tree trimmings over the fence for me to deal with. We’re not talking about a small pile. That I could let slide. This pile will take numerous trips with the tractor and at least a couple of hours of work to remove. I am not a happy camper. But I am a restrained camper. Sort of.

The sort of comes because of the second act. The first half of the pile came last week. The second act was added sometime Saturday afternoon. I’m afraid to think of what might come if I don’t say something. I tell myself he’s an old man. I remind myself he -- or someone -- managed to cut all those limbs and shrubbery. That person surely could dispose of it as well.

Maybe restraint involves being nice. But firm. Maybe restraint means not saying what I really mean and rather saying what is necessary to get my point across. Maybe restraint means no threats. With God’s help, maybe I could even be nice and smile. Maybe I could use kindness and mercy rather than hardness and anger. Maybe that’s restraint.

I’m not sure why this man decided it was okay to do this but I do know that God will work it all out. He knows what‘s going on, just like He knows how much I have on my plate right now and how little patience I have to deal with someone else’s issues. So I’ll take a deep breath. And maybe I’ll smile. And I’ll try to be kind and practice a little restraint.