THE PATH TO PEACE

Did you know that nuclear disarmament begins at home? It does, because home is the place where we often give in to feelings of resentment, bitterness, ingratitude and dissatisfaction. Then the self-pity and blaming of others sets in, and the first thing you know, you are ready to nuke someone.

Well, take a tip from me. Nuking your house will also leave you incinerated, allegorically speaking, of course.

What I mean is that when we are critical, negative, "hurt", or resentful, it really takes a lot out of us, drying up our spirits, and making us actually quite unattractive. Quite simply, we become odious, and during these long, often homebound winter days, that is particularly bad.

The bible, in Proverbs 30, says that one of the three things that disquiet the earth, and one of the four things  which the earth cannot bear is "an odious woman when she is married". I looked up the definition of the word "odious" and it means:

"Arousing or meriting strong dislike, aversion, or intense displeasure". Also, "Arousing or deserving hatred or repugnance". Whoa, don't ya just love how the King James Version refuses to worry about hurting anyone's feelings? So non-pc.

But I think we all know what an odious woman looks like, and by the way, it has nothing to do with her physical appearance, per se, but what that inner person generates to the outside world. A woman may be fat as a sow, a stooping hunchback, old, or even unkempt, but when her spirit radiates joy, generosity, cheerfulness and goodwill, she is treasured and beautiful, and in a word, attractive. People are attracted to her and desire her company because of the Christ-like goodness she emanates. Anyone who has ever thought, or said, "What does he see in her?" knows exactly what I mean.

But woe to a woman when she makes herself odious by a peevish, uncharitable attitude. First Corinthians 13 says that love "thinketh no evil", and the NIV version of that verse interprets that to mean that love "keeps no record of wrongs".
Oh, how we often keep a record of wrongs, neatly filed into organized folders, according to time and date, pristinely maintained in that filthy file cabinet in our heads. This is an odious practice which breeds "uglification", against which make-up, expensive night creams and even plastic surgery are no remedy.

It is also self-defeating because we will surely get it right back in our faces, just as surely as Walmart puts out Valentines Day cards on the day after Christmas.
Not that we aren't "justified" at times to be angry and resentful. Well, sort of justified. For instance, (and here is where I typed out my particular situation, which I deleted because my words were so ungodly, but boy, it felt good, but wicked, to write it!), when God asks a person to take on more responsibilities, it sometimes makes that person feel kind of witchy, and the other word that rhymes with witchy. And that engenders some really negative feedback, both from family members and one's own conscience.

So the path to peace, in the home and in one's heart, is simply to walk that narrow path that our Lord set out for us, and which He himself trod, that we might follow Him more closely. To judge not, lest we be judged, to be thankful for our many blessings, and to love and serve others as if we were doing this for the Lord, Himself, because in the final analysis, we are really doing just that. "Whatsoever you do unto the least of my brothers, you do unto Me".

Time to wrap up this post and head to the kitchen for beauty school.