Proverb for Today

The beginning of strife is as when one lets out water; therefore abandon contention before a quarrel starts. (Proverbs 17:14, MEV)

Devotional Thought

We recently got a new rug for our living room. I love it; it’s soft, kinda cushy (but not too cushy), and looks nice. Kaylee does an excellent job decorating our house and making our house a home. But this new rug brought with it some new rules.

You see, this rug is mainly beige with a subtle pattern. AKA, it doesn’t handle spills well.

And in case you wanted to know, I am a spill professional.

Case and point, I’m the reason we got a new rug in the first place, because, well . . .  you guessed it, I spilled on the old one. A few times. (But I’ll leave it at that; don’t want to further incriminate myself!)

I’ll never forget that first major spill. The old rug was white. Was. Until I shared some coffee with it. And by some, I mean a lot. (Free tip to enhance your marriage, guys: don’t spill on the rugs. Whatever it takes, just don’t spill on your wife’s rugs. Ever.) I can still see the spill happening in slow motion. The coffee mug gets bumped, starts to turn over, I reach to stop the mug from tipping, and watch as a beautiful cascade of rich brown coffee slowly falls gracefully down to the rug.

And then Kaylee turned the corner.

Long story short, there was no way to get the coffee back in the cup. Once the liquid was out of its container, there was no getting it back in. It had been spilled.

I love our proverb for today. The beginning of a fight is just like spilling a cup of coffee. Once you spill it, there’s no getting it back.

We’ve all been there. In the heat of the moment, we’ve said something we wish we could take back. We’ve done something we wish we could redo. But once said and done, there’s no changing it. We can try to clean up the mess we made, but the damage has been done.

As you go throughout your day today, watch your emotions. Don’t let your anger get the best of you and draw you into a fight. Because if you’re not careful, you’ll release a devastating flash flood. And who knows what the damage could be.

Reflect and Respond

• • How good are you at controlling your temper?
  • Are you quick to walk away from conflict, giving yourself to calm down? If not, what can you do to calm down before getting caught up in the heat of the moment?
  • Who around you is like a powder keg, waiting to blow at a moment’s notice? How can you help defuse their blow-ups before they happen?