Great Plains Daily Devotional for 7/18/2020

Ephesians 4:2 

Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.

These times are different. These times bring new protocols and new ways to go about our lives.

I’ve become very easy to anger. I think one thing can set me off for the whole entire day. I’m looking for an opportunity to be mad!! Or at least, that’s what started happening about 3 months ago. I’ve just come up with 2 ideas to help combat this “Instant Anger”.

Do not plan on everything going right throughout the day/weekend/event. With the Corona virus being around, almost all of my plans nowadays have complications. Even more so, I don’t share the same opinions with my friends, family, and coworkers. So I will think of everything that will go wrong. But, things never seem to go as planned. It can be easy to blow up, and raise my voice at someone. However, if I plan on at least some things going wrong in the day, I’m better prepared to handle them when they do happen! I can take a deep breath and try to understand rather than blow up. I may be wrong in a lot of situations or I can take some time to think about how to explain things. 

Be Patient. When someone cancels plans, don’t blow up. When you forget your mask, don’t blow up. When you get hot and sticky due to a mask, don’t blow up. One thing can light a fuse to ruin your day, which leads to ruining someone else’s day, which then hurts your relationship with that person. Keep a tight watch on your fuse and don’t blow up!
 
For more meditations from Faith Lab visit https://umcmfaithlab.wordpress.com/

Prayer for Reflection

Genesis 25:19-34
Psalm 119:105-112 or Psalm 25
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23