Emotions in Motion

Emotions are raging, threatening a volcanic outburst and an avalanche of destruction! Rolling, boiling, fizzing, heading for a collision! Stop. Wait. Maybe you can take a deep breath and think. Listen, maybe you are jumping to conclusions? Perhaps you are wrong or have misinterpreted what is happening and what you are hearing? But then you may also be right. Wait. Listen. There must be a different way to react...

This is what is going on in my mind right now. I am a woman and I admit I have a wealth of emotions that I really do not need. At times I pray that the garbage collector comes and take away all these excesses.  It gets me into trouble most times. I get to react too passionately. I am at times embarrassed by all the gamut of emotions that rage or flow inside of me, and sting or sooth my soul. It wears me down.

From the beginning of the world, we were designed to be emotional people. But women, in particular, are just too emotionally rich. How do we deal with the package of emotions built into our being? Do we repress them, keeping them and letting them rot, poisoning our insides until they grow physically into a tumor or until they erupt into everybody's faces? Or do we express emotions, zinging anybody that happens to come along at such a sorry time?

What is the purpose of our emotions? Galatians 5:22 tells of lives under the Holy Spirit's control. "But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives He will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control." This is our Designer's purpose for us. He designed that our emotions are to be used to relate and not to rule; to create healthy individuals, with healthy relationships, and not to control our minds and each other. Emotions are not meant to rule our thinking, our decisions or our destinies. Rather, they are to be ruled by reason. When we allow our emotions to think for us, we are on to a great disaster, being tossed to and fro by life's waves.

There are times when your children has tried your patience and your impulse tells you to just simply give in to your emotions and give them a piece of that old rod or your mind; stop, wait and think. Pray, look and listen. When your spouse has been critical and everything in you just screams to let him taste a little bit of his own treatment; stop, wait and think. When your boss just can't seem to appreciate what you do and you are dying to cut his ego down to pieces; stop, wait and think. When your day is just getting too long and nothing seems to be going right; then stop, wait and think... maybe you just need a break or to get something to eat. There's always a different way to react than just rave, rage or thunder. There is always a better way, a Spirit controlled way.

So when emotions get too much, stop. Turn to the Savior. Pray for He can help, He can save. Wait and assess the trial before you. Think and give heed to the Holy Spirit's voice--- prompting you to leave or to respond in a way that Christ would if He is in your place.

As for me, I have stopped, waited and thought things out far too long. My reflecting is now looking more like sulking. Ahahaha... So now I have to act. But I still think that it's better to be cautious than sorry. Before I could act though, God took matters into His own hands and gave me a way out of my trial through an invitation to come out of my 'sulking' and start afresh. I admit, I did jump into the wrong conclusion... as I often do. But now I am thankful that I have taken the time to stop, wait, and think. I mean, I thank God!