Temperance - Keep Calm and Carry On
Keep calm? Carry on? HOW exactly do I do that? With the whole world running around with their collective hair on fire? I think I have some ideas. Well, I don’t, but Mother Teresa does:
“Smile at your children, smile at each other -- it doesn’t matter who it is -- and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each other.” > Mother Teresa
How do I bring temperance into my life when it feels like my life has just served off the highway and flipped over in the ditch? It helped me to understand the definition of temperance.
Temperance - moderation or voluntary self-restraint, what an individual voluntarily refrains from doing.[1] This includes:
* Restraint from retaliation in the form of non-violence and forgiveness
* Restraint from arrogance in the form of humility and modesty
* Restraint from excesses such as extravagant luxury or splurging
* Restraint from excessive anger or craving for something [2]
Once again Wikipedia has set me straight. I was expecting references to abstinence from alcohol. And I was not looking forward to writing about that. Wikipedia’s definition explains why temperance is one of the seven heavenly virtues. And it acts as a counterweight to several of the deadly sins.
The apostle Paul talks about turning to a more temperate life in his beautiful letter to the Colossians.
Put On the New Self
Colossians 3:12–15
[12] Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, [13] bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. [14] And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. [15] And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. (ESV) [3]
Let the peace of Christ rule our hearts. I know, easier said than done. But what if we stopped a few times during our busy day and invited Christ in to rule our hearts? How much calmer those next few minutes (or hours?) could be!
Jesus Calms a Storm
Luke 8:23–24
[23] and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. [24] And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. (ESV)
Do we sound like the disciples right now? “We are perishing!” Are we willing to let Jesus come into our day and rebuke the rage and wind in our lives? He is there in the calm of the day and in the temperate life.
If we want to feel Jesus in our daily life we need to examine our choices:
> Retaliation or forgiveness?
> Arrogance or humility?
> Extravagance or charity?
> Anger or understanding?
My action plan:
I write on a sticky note three times in my day (8:30; 10:30; 1:30?) to stop what I’m doing. And focus on nature - something that God has made.
I journal each night about one angry thought that I could have turned back to understanding or forgiveness.
I print a calming picture and tape it on the side of my computer monitor.
My prayer:
Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful day that surrounds me. Wash me in your calm. Wrap me in your arms of love. Remind me of your mercy so that I can show that same mercy to others.
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[1] Green, Joel (2011). Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics. Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic. p. 769. ISBN 978-0-8010-3406-0.
[2] Schwarzer, Ralf (2012). Personality, human development, and culture : international perspectives on psychological science. Hove: Psychology. pp. 127–129. ISBN 978-0-415-65080-9.
[3] https://www.esv.org/Colossians+3/
Photo Credits:
Calm: Photo by Erwann Letue on Unsplash
Water: The Author