By Pastor Steven Becker
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21 Dec, 2021
Proverbs 21:9, 19 “It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house. It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.” You likely heard your mother tell you at some point in your childhood, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all” . In other words, just be kind. Stop pinching, hitting, name calling, pulling hair, annoying, and doing anything that would cause your siblings to run to mother crying. We’d like to think that our actions change as we get older. I believe that they morph into different forms, but we can be pretty childish when we things don’t go our way. I’ll preface this by mentioning that this certainly goes for men and women. Albeit, God chose to mention two times in one chapter that an angry and brawling woman pushes the people in her home far away from her. Those who are angry at God, angry at the world, and angry with themselves resort to expressing their anger in the little things that they see. For many, these little things are the dishes left on the counter unwashed, the laundry that isn’t put away properly, or the item at the store that was forgotten. What starts as a small mistake turns into a screaming match, but it is an outpouring of an angry spirit. It costs nothing to be kind to people, especially the ones living in your own home, yet the value of kindness is priceless to those around you. Pastor Clint Caviness taught in our church about how his home decided they would live by the “law of kindness” , and that truth stuck with me. I’m not perfect at it, but we pursue this value in our home as well. Do people enjoy your presence or do they run away and walk on egg shells around you? Wisdom for the Day: People want to be treated with kindness. It doesn’t start with how others treat you, but with how you treat others. Be kind.