Don't lose your temper

I was watching "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman" on Youtube today - once again, just having fun bringing back the memories from watching it as a kid.

The saloon owner was getting mad at the blacksmith when the blacksmith held up a hot iron horseshoe.

"You're like iron. When you get hot, you get weak."

That is true for anyone. When we lose our tempers, we often lose control of our actions and our mouths. We get weak. The people who are strongest in spirit, and often those who are strongest in faith, have great control of their tempers. They realize that getting angry and losing control does not make them strong. It makes them weak.

Anger itself is not necessarily weak. However, the Bible says, "The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made."

Since God is our model for perfection, we should realize that anger is sometimes necessary. However, we should be slow to anger and rich in love.

I don't have the quickest temper, so I can't say that I struggle with this issue - at least not at this point in my life. (I've learned that once I say I don't struggle with something, it usually comes to tempt me). However, when I heard the quote about anger making us weak, I thought it was an important lesson to pass on.