October 3, 2011 Devotional

Living with a calm and controlled spirit

"Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city." (Pvb16:32)

I've used that scripture lots of times while raising kids. Many times it has kept them from a spanking or an afternoon spent in their room. But that scripture has kept me out of trouble too. It's one I've had to learn to put into practice in life and ministry.

The truth is, there have been times in life when I wanted to do anything but control myself. There have been situations I wanted to fix, people I've wanted to straighten out and a husband and kids I've felt the need to defend.  And honestly, there are times that I actually have.

But the longer I live the more I realize how important it is to live with a calm and controlled spirit. I've learned it's much better to pause and pray rather than react in my own strength or judgment.

One summer, my son Michael was playing little league, and he had a coach that was quite a character. I would sit through practices and hear him use about every four-letter word there is-words you would not expect to hear a grown man use in front of a bunch of 10 year olds. But not only that-he was rough, harsh and could be downright mean.

So after a few weeks, I told my husband that I'd had enough. I was going to talk to the coach! After all, I didn't pay money for my son to have to listen to that garbage every afternoon.

Well, Jim quickly let me know that I was not going to have any such talk. He said that instead we were going to let our son be a light to this coach, to pray for him and to be a witness.

That's not what I really wanted to hear, but that's what we did. To make a long story short, by the end of the season this coach was asking questions about God and about our church. He told us that he would like to visit sometime.

To be honest, I didn't think he'd ever come, so you can bet I was surprised when I looked up one Sunday and saw him and his whole family in service! And I was even more surprised when they continued to come.

I'm so glad I listened to my husband and got God's perspective that day.  I've found that God's perspective is usually quite different than mine. It's much more accurate.  He sees things I don't see, He knows things about situations and people that I don't. And most of all He is always right.

Tamara Graff 

Faith Family Church
Victoria, TX
www.faithfamilyvictoria.org