Reaction

The WORD today (http://usccb.org/bible/readings/052913.cfm) reminds me how important it is to react properly in challenging situations.

There’s a story of a dad who woke up late for an important meeting. He was rushing and on the way out, his 5 year old daughter accidentaly spilled her milk on his tie. He shouted at her for being careless and went back up to change. Meanwhile, the mother, seeing the little girl cry, left the kitchen to attend to her daughter. She forgot the food she was cooking so it got burned and when their son came down, he was angry not being able to haviebreakfast before going to school. The mother felt irritated at that, and took it out on the father as he was coming down the stairs. They fought in front of the little girl before the dad left for the office.

What a sad situation it was. Just becase the dad reacted in a bad way, a lot of people were affected.

In the gospel, we see the opposite. It was a challenging situation. After Jesus telling his disciples he would suffer before rising again, James and John asked him a favor, a selfish one. Instead of hearing, Lord, what can we do to help, or Lord, we will pray for you – he heard his disciples wanting glory when he rises again. However, instead of reacting in a negative way, Jesus used the situation to teach them and remind them a valuable lesson. He did not scold them or lose their temper at them for thinking of that in such a situation. Jesus shows us how important it is to react properly in challenging situations.

In our lives, we sometimes let emotions get the better of us. We sometimes react instinctively, based on spur of the moment emotions. Because of that, we unintentionally hurt people, create a bigger probem or lose an opportunity to praise and glorify God through our actions, through our lives. May Jesus today remind us to not let our emotions get the best of us and be in constant prayer so we can react properly, in a way God wants, to challenging situations – thus glorifying God.

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for your WORD. Lord, I pray that you always remind me how important it is to react in a way that would glorify you. There are a lot of times that I lose my temper, that I react based on my emotions or feelings, and because of those situations, I hurt other people and I lose an opportunity to glorify you. I pray that you always be with me, help me be able to control my reactions, and give me patience and peace that will help me react in a way that would glorify you. Amen.

Blessed day!

In Christ,

-g-