“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.”
Proverbs 16:32
Back in college I had the opportunity to work on a cattle ranch in Colorado. The owner of the ranch would meet with us ranch-hands throughout the week to study the Bible and learn from him in discipleship. It was really a life-changing and soul-searching 3 months for me in the Sangria de Cristo mountain range. I learned a lot about myself and a lot about being still. There were times when we were on horse back that we would go for hours without saying a word to each other–just pushing the cattle through the mountains to find their lush green pasture to feed for the summer and fall. It was in this same place that I also experienced the power of a horse. We picked our horses early on in the summer, and we would ride those horses throughout the rest of our time there. I locked in to Jimmy for some reason, and chose him–an old brindle quarter horse that looked fit to ride. I learned something from Jimmy the first time I jumped on him that I often reflect upon in my life even to this day. After we pulled him from the trailer and got ready to saddle our horses (in order to run the length of a fence high in the mountains looking for breaks to repair), I mounted the saddle and got ready to go. Well, just as I climbed on Jimmy began to let loose. He was crow-hopping and bucking up a storm. Somehow I managed to hold on to his mane, but the reigns were dangling all around–and very far from my grip. He kept crow-hopping until he finally bucked me off. I hit the ground and wondered what the heck just happened. Well, Jimmy wasn’t going to get the best of me, so I jumped back on and made sure to pull the reigns tight and steady letting him know that he wasn’t going to have anymore outbursts again. Needlesstosay, Jimmy and I became good pals from that moment on, but it taught me a lesson about control.
Are there times in your life when you have felt out of control? Are the results ever what you had intended them to be? The reality is, we have experienced a point or two when we feel like we’re riding bare-back on a bucking bronco without any hope of reigning it in. We wish we didn’t lose our cool here or there, and that we didn’t spend our money there, and we want to be able to control ourselves, but it just seems hard at times.
Solomon’s admonition above provides some insight–not necessarily promises–to guide us in our daily lives. To be able to control is better than the mighty. What a paradox. And that’s it, we think that losing our anger or spending what we want when we want actually makes us in control or controls our environment, but the opposite is actually occurring. It’s the one who is in control–that is to say doesn’t lose their cool–that is the one who is actually controlling the situation and environment.
What relevant truth for today from over 2,000 years ago.
How are you controlling your environment? By losing control or maintaining control?
— October 7, 2016