A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. Laughter is the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of the heart.
Proverbs 1722 says, A happy heart is good medicine, and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones. Character is not made in crisis, it is only exhibited. Psalm 16 8, I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Proverbs 1820 and 21 from the fruit of his mouth, a man's stomach is filled, with the harvest from his lips he has satisfied, the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
So swallowing angry words before you say them is better than having to eat them afterwards. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself. Matthew 5 and 6, Happy are those who long to be just and good, for they shall be completely satisfied. Once upon a time, a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable, and that she didn't know how she was going to make it.
She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time, it seemed just as one problem was solved another one soon followed. Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen, he filled three pots with water, and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third. He let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter.
The daughter moaned, and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After 20 minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.
He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her, he asked, daughter, what do you see? Potatoes, eggs and coffee, she hastily replied, look closer, he said, and touched the potatoes. She didn't know that they were soft.
He then asked her to make an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma, brought a smile to her face.
Dad, what does this mean? He then explained the potatoes, the eggs, and coffee beans had each face the same adversity, the boiling water. However, each one reacted differently. The potatoes went in strong, hard, unrelenting, but the boiling water made them soft and weak.
The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water, then the inside of the egg became hard. However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new. He asked his daughter, which one are you?
An adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean? In life, things happen around us. Things happen to us.
But the only thing that truly matters is how you choose to react to it and what you make out of it. Life is all about learning, adopting, and converting all the struggles that we experience into something positive. Anger is a stone throw at a wasp nest. Ecclesiastes 7.9 says, do not be quick in spirit to be angry or vexed for anger and vexation large in the bosom of fools.
People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing. The word 1911 says the discretion of a man defer with his anger and his glory to pass over a transgression. The right train of thought can take you to a better station in life. Proverbs 23.7, for as he thinks within himself.
So he is. How do you choose to respond to adversity? When something challenging happens to you, do you get weak? Do you get soft?
Do you find it extremely difficult potentially giving up? Do you get hard? Do you get angry? Do you get difficult to deal with?
Are you that person that when adversity strikes? There is no, there is no talking to you, there is no understanding you, there is no coping. Or do you change the situation altogether? Do you make the things around you better?
Do you make what was once something difficult into something manageable, into something gratifying, into something satisfying? How do you respond to that adversity? God says he will give us nothing that we can't handle. There is nothing God will allow us to take on that we cannot overcome.