Slow It Down

"A hot-tempered man stirs up strife,
but he who is slow to anger quiets contention." —Proverbs 15:18

We cannot deny we all have moments of anger. Yesterday I witnessed multiple accounts of anger throughout my day. I saw a parent shouting at their teen, two adults arguing while driving down the road, a woman at a customer service desk infuriated about service, and then listened to a friend who was enraged about a situation at work. This verse is clear; anger brews inside us all. Like a crockpot coming to a boil, we each have a speed by which this happens—some get hot fast, and some get hot slow. Yet only you know your rate of boil and the triggers that accelerate the boil. Therefore, give pause to the triggers that make you "hot" and learn to moderate because unmoderated anger only stirs up strife.

DO THIS: Write down one thing that triggered your anger yesterday. Identify the trigger and moderate it today.

PRAY THIS: God, help me to moderate what triggers my anger before I become a hot-tempered man.