February 5: Exodus 40; Psalm 30: Mark 3

"His anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime.  Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning." Psalm 30:5

For me, this is so true.  Why is it our demons of doubt, fear, anxiety and trouble come to us at night...plucking at our mind....eating at the edges of our souls...creating whirlpools of gray and murkiness that steal our peace?

But then, after I am finally able to drag myself to sleep and wake the next morning, the demons of the night appear smaller; answers begin to appear; paths I could not find the night before break forth out of the gloom and haze of anxiety.

The same is true of anger.  It burns hot and quick at first, but if we can manage to wait...to allow time to pass....it will cool enough that we can see again with God's favor instead of our righteous wrath.  The smoke of anger will surely clear.  Can we learn to hold off on our actions and words instead of reacting and responding in the heat of the moment?  Can we remember that to divide ourself from another is to divide the Body of Christ----to break apart that which God desires to be a whole.  Peace---shalom---means wholeness.  "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand."