Nose to Nose, June 9 Daily Reflection

Spencer & Jake Nose to Nose

How often do you feel like my boys in this picture as an adult? Is there anyone in your life that makes you as red faced and angry as this? Do you have a colleague that constantly gets under your skin?  Do you feel like you and your spouse live with your faces stuck like this daily? Do you feel like this with a family member that has driven you mad since childhood? It is acceptable to be nose to nose as children because well, children fight they have raw emotions and have not learned how to deal with them yet. What about adults because we have learned to “deal” with emotions does that mean we don’t feel this way anymore or does it simply mean we have to hide the red face and keep our nose to ourselves?

Many times in life as adults we are tested to the limit it seems. Physically we know it is illegal to place our hands on another person so the majority of adults have learned to control any physical harm we would like to inflict upon others. However, there are plenty of ways to retaliate against people who we just don’t like, for whatever reason. As adults we sometimes just ignore the person, believing if we pretend they don’t exist then those problems won’t exist either. Other times we vent to other close friends about the issues, hoping that if we release the tension it will not be as bad. Some adults just gossip, not vent, intentionally trashing that person. Some of us don’t mind confrontation and facing off nose to nose but not physically only verbally. What is the right way to deal with a situation that is not right to begin with you may ask?

God wants us to all love each other regardless of our many flaws and differences. In order to love everyone we must be accepting of others and understanding of their experiences and empathetic to what has formed that person. When we take the time to really get to know a person that drives us nuts sometimes we better understand that person, the anger fades and it becomes easier to be nice. Although in the case of a family member we have known all our lives it is more difficult. Sometimes we just have to accept who that person is and just look at their positive assets.

God never said we have to be best friends and hang out daily with everyone just that we must love them. So today think about the person or people in your life that make you see red and try to see them from a different perspective, try to get to know them better and try to accept them more. Try to let that anger go, give it away to God the only thing anger does is hurt you and others. Take a deep breath, vent to someone you can trust your best friend or your spouse not everyone, try to learn something more about the person and honestly try to love that person today. Because as adults we must learn to deal with our raw emotions but we are wise enough to know that we can change emotions through understanding. Today let’s be the adults God wants us to be.