At the Crossroads of Action or Reaction

 

Proverbs 14:17 "He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated." 

Proverbs 25:11 "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." 

Proverbs 29:20 "Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? There is more hope of a fool than of him."

I was at a crossroads this morning and I'd like to take a minute or two and share with you my personal experience in choosing which direction to go.    As I faced this crossroads in my life I was forced to make a decision between action and reaction.  In my flesh, I wanted to react.  As a matter of fact I wanted to react in such a way that what I was reacting to, would have had no doubt that I was reacting.  But something in my spirit, ok maybe not my spirit...something in my wife's spirit, which then spoke to my spirit, caused me to consider my reaction to this particular situation. 

The scripture references above came to me as I rapidly searched through my Bible trying to find somewhere that would justify my reaction.  While part of me wishes I could have found something to justify what I was feeling at the time, I realized after pondering on them for a little while that I was wrong.  Reacting hastily, and quickly to situations that frustrate us, usually ends up making us look far worse than what we think it will.

As I continued to study on this topic I found that action means "an act that one consciously wills and that may be characterized by physical or mental activity." While on the other hand, I laughed out loud when I looked up reaction.  Now keep in mind, there were several different definitions for this word, but only one seemed to sum up what I was feeling at the crossroads this morning - reaction: "A pattern of behavior constituting a mental disorder or personality type."  :)  And since I do not have any "mental disorders" (or at least any I admit too) I decided against reacting and decided to take action on the high road instead this time. 

Would you like to know something?  While the high road was not as easy to turn down, I am happy that I did.  Take action today over reaction, you'll be glad that you did.