First Baptist Church of Herndon

Calm Before the Storm

Linda Soller | Aug 22, 2016

You are sitting at a traffic light waiting to turn right. The person in the car in front of you misses several, “perfectly fine,” opportunities to do the same. Then it happens. You feel your impatience kick in with each opportunity you think the other driver has missed. By the time he or she turns you are irritated. You pull out as fast as you can behind them. Maybe a bit too fast. You stay with them, maybe a bit too close, until they turn off to their office. You are practically willing them to feel how irritated you are with their driving skills. You walk in to your office and see a report on your desk which strikes you as inadequate, so you jump on your co-worker in anger that you will have to re-do their work. Hey wait a minute! How did that simple delay on your way to work turn to impatience, then to irritability, and end up in anger? Weren’t you fine when you left your house? Sound familiar?

Which do you think is worse, impatience, irritability, or anger? All three reflect on our lack of self-control. All three can lead to tension, anxiety, confrontation, or worse, if not kept in check. A young man in a state of anger, “road rage,” gets into an altercation with an older driver. The young man punches the older driver who falls and hits his head on the road with such force the man dies within days due to his head injury. The young man is sent to prison, serves time, and is released. A few weeks ago the same young man, ten+ years older, confronts another driver in anger. This time the other driver is fearful for their own safety and decides to shoot the angry young man, who dies from the wound. Hard to imagine, but a true story. How did the two situations escalate to such a point? Fortunately, for most of us, our conflicts are held in check well before we reach the anger stage, but let’s face it we all get angry at times.

I just read about the use of meditation to help us calm our emotions when we feel things building up inside. Mediation is not some freaky religion. Many people use prayer as a form of meditation, a way to clear their minds and focus on God, thus calming their emotions. Some mediate by simply focusing on a point, an object, or a thought to steer away from emotions trying to run wild. The concept is fundamentally to calm your mind, which calms the emotions and helps you to reconsider and appreciate your situation. Paul wrote to early Christians to avoid anger, to be understanding. The key is to recognize when you are headed toward anger. Only you can know when your emotions start to churn. Perhaps the secret is not to focus on the anger, but to focus on the calm. Start to appreciate when you calm yourself before getting impatient, or irritated, or angry. Try to identify and tap into your personal calm before the storm.

Have a great week!    : o)  Linda