HOT TEMPER
When I was little I had a temper. My mom used to say I could fly off the handle if you looked at me the wrong way. I don’t remember being that way, but I guess I was. She said I hated to get up and when I was I didn’t want anyone to talk to me. I am sorry to say my brother got the brunt of my anger a lot. We were barely a year apart and everyone said we looked like twins. He knew exactly how to push my buttons to set me off. We both have scars and memories to prove it. But we were best friends too. It was like we knew what the other one was thinking and would finish the other’s sentences. As we grew up and had to take on more and more of the responsibilities of the family we got even closer.
I was away at boarding school when our father died. He was my hero and I felt guilty that I had been away until the day before he passed. I did get to see him for a little bit that day, but I was devastated. My brother helped me through it and convinced me to go back to school. He said it was what dad would have wanted. I stayed for another year and a half before I had to quit, mom needed me to come home and help with the family. I became a caregiver at 15 and pretty much took on the responsibility of the household and my younger siblings. Mom was working two jobs to pay the bills.
When I turned 16 I decided I wanted to learn to drive. The neighbor up the road said he had an old car out behind his barn that we could have. We got some friends to help us get it home and the boys got it running again. My brother said he could teach me. Driving on the road was a lot different than driving the farm truck around the hay field. You actually had to go faster than 5 miles an hour and learn how to shift gears. We had been going out every day for a week after school to practice, when mom asked at the dinner table, how I was doing. My brother said great as long as she doesn’t get behind the wheel. That put an end to our joy riding, I finally learned how to drive but it was 10 years later.
Now that we are in our 70s, we have been able to spend more time together. We are still the best of friends and enjoy just spending time together. Time is the best gift friends can give each other.
But getting back to the temper concern it took a lot of living to cool my hot-headedness. Life can totally change your personality; I finished school, got married, joined the civil service branch of the Army, spent 6 years in Germany during the Viet Nan War, had 4 children, went through a divorce, becoming a single parent. You don’t have time to get upset over every little thing. You have to learn to rise above it. I still sometimes get short with people who knowingly don’t do the job they are getting paid to do. As a business owner that was one of my pet peeves. I never had to fire anyone but they knew from the being I would not tolerate laziness. I have had to learn that it is not my job to correct others that are not my responsibility.
That is where the grace of God comes in. I have learned to give my short temper to Him and ask him to help me put a smile on my face and see if there is something I can do to help. If you want to know the one who can help you overcome any problem you might have in your life, let me introduce you to my Jesus. You will be glad you did.
JOHN 3:16
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