Oops … I did it again. 🤦♀️
Last night, I let the salty words of others get into my heart and create internal strife.
After a truly wonderful evening with my family, I got a Facebook notification and read it. And I allowed my whole evening thereafter to sour.
My husband held me as I vented.
“They don’t know …”, followed by “This is why …” and a lot of other forms of justifying how I was interpreting what I had just read. I spent nearly half an hour letting my interpretation of just a few words bother me before I rolled over in bed feeling defeated, and I prayed.
“God, help me let this go. Give me the wisdom to move on from this moment.”
I was instantly reminded of the words, “He who angers you controls you.”
I thought about how truly silly it was to be hurt over words for all the reasons I had justified to my husband. But I still couldn’t let it go.
Then I flashed back to a time recently where I had hurt someone else’s feelings by posting something without knowing the entire story. It was as though God was reminding me, “Words can hurt others”.
On social media, it is easy to internalize things and take them out of context when we don’t really know the author’s true intentions.
I was reminded to “stay in your circle”. The reality was I could control my own peace. I will never be able to control the way others feel, think, and even judge me. It’s not my place to.
How often do we judge others or cast stones without knowing the full story? I was just as guilty as the person casting the salty words my way. I assumed they were salty and aimed at me. While I don’t know the true intentions of their heart, even if they were written in malice, that’s an internal problem for them.
I prayed for them. I said another prayer for me. I woke up this morning and was drawn to this verse:
****2 Timothy 2:23****
Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth.
****
How often do we unintentionally cause conflict among others over trivial things?
How often do we hold onto conflict and let it place wedges between us instead of taking it to God to handle and moving on from a place of love?
So I may have temporarily reverted to a place of negative response. But God reminded me to step out of the things that produce quarrels, stay in my circle, and honor him by letting peace, grace, and love replace the moments that allow Satan to win through resentment, anger, and unnecessary conflict.
