You Drive Me Crazy

"A wise man controls his temper. He knows that anger causes mistakes." Proverbs 14:29 (LB)

Remember when you were a kid on the playground at school? Think back now--way back! It's recess. Kids are playing games or swinging or climbing the jungle gym or gathering in little circles to talk. In the middle of the typical playground squabbles and joking around somebody goes up to somebody else and does a little pantomime. If you were that kid it would look something like this:   First you would point to that person (you); then you would take the wheel of your imaginary car and navigate some tricky curves (drive); then point back at yourself (me); and for the grand finale you would hold one finger up to the side of your head and twirl it around, often adding theatrical moves like rolling your eyes or stumbling around (crazy).   There you have it; a message in pantomime: "YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY!" It would generally take very little to provoke this performance out of most of us kids, especially the boys. We'd do it in response to a silly joke or comment, a difference of opinion about whether the batter was safe on base or out at first, or just because we were frustrated and didn't know what else to do. We boys would do it especially to the girls we liked. (That was a tactic to get noticed by them and show them how clever we were, but throw them off at the same time!) Oh, the mixed messages that are conveyed on the playgrounds of the world. So here's a question for you: Do you ever feel like doing that to somebody as an adult? You....Drive....Me.....Crazy!  I do. But we're never too young or too old to learn better pantomimes. When people get on our nerves we face a choice of whether to act with maturity, love and wisdom or react with exasperation and impatience. The decision is ours and it is usually made in a split second.  "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near." Phil 4:5  This Monday night I'm going to speak about Relationship Wisdom. Wisdom is something we do--not just what we know. All of us need this; I hope you can come.     Greg