Words in Anger

As some of you may be aware, I lead four monthly round-table groups of Christian business and ministry leaders in the Toledo area. The purpose of these gatherings is to help each of our members (usually 12-15 in a group) to grow their organizations in a God-honoring way, while at the same time helping them to grow personally and spiritually. The name of this ministry is Truth at Work.

Each of these sessions is four hours long and, though I am the facilitator, I receive so much from these times together--I truly feel like the most blessed person on this planet that I get to do this. This morning's meeting was no exception.

One of our members in today's meeting shared a line which I thought was great. She said, "Whenever I get angry, I try to just leave the room because I have never said anything when I was angry in which I later said to myself, 'Wow, that was brilliant. I am so glad I just said that!'"

You know what? I can say the same exact thing in my life. It seems that when I am angry is when I say the things I regret the most. Perhaps I need to follow this person's advice when I'm angry and just leave before I say anything I might regret. I guess my mom was right all along when she used to tell me, "If you can't say anything nice about someone, don't say anything at all."

A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.

Proverbs 29:11