When Clay was little he used to say that all the time when things weren’t going his 2 year old way. We heard it a lot and he meant it. This week the devil was able to really push my patience and anger buttons and now that I look back, it was really silly of me to give in to him.
I bought a dishwasher on July 15 and this past Sunday it stopped draining. I called the store I bought it from on Monday morning and the man I talked to there said he would have the installers come by and see if the drain hose had gotten kinked. All day Monday I waited and no one called. Tuesday I started a 3 day golf tournament but had my phone with me and then stayed home all afternoon waiting for someone to call that they were coming to check it out. Wednesday as I got to about the 6th hole they called that they could come right then but if not then it would be next week and the girl who called said she didn’t know why I hadn’t requested repair anyway. I explained that the gentleman who answered the phone on Monday had suggested the installers come look. I told her to set up a repair call and she said it would be at least 2 weeks. That’s when I lost it. I was so angry. I had been playing decent golf and then it all went to hell in a hand basket. To make matters worse I called 2 other appliance repair places and they said they didn’t work on the brand I had. Great!
I finished my horrific round of golf and called the 800 number for repairs and that gentleman informed me they could get someone out next week but it would be a $100 service call because I had purchased the dishwasher more than 30 days ago…it was now 31 days. I called the store back and asked them about the $100 charge since I had actually called them on Monday and whoever I talked to that time could not have been more helpful. She said there would be no service charge and they are sending someone today (Friday).
I was winning the tournament after the 1st day, fell way back after letting my anger take over on Wednesday, then played much better on Thursday. I ended up 2nd.
Now that I think about it, it’s certainly not going to affect my life that much if I go without a dishwasher for another few days so why did I let it get so out of hand? I think I know. All this week the devotional I’ve been reading has been about forgiveness and anger. You know, our enemy doesn’t like that. He likes to push our buttons. I’ll bet when he saw me reading and praying about those things he thought, “Oh boy, I’m gonna get you and you won’t even know what hit you, sister!” When we get angry we can’t even think straight. Everything seems much worse than it is and I actually start looking for more things to be mad about. It’s like an addiction. “I’m just gonna be mad!”
Our anger accomplishes absolutely nothing. Fortunately for me I have learned a little over the years. I know my voice was raised and the people on the phone calls and the poor women who were paired with me knew I wasn’t a happy camper but I didn’t give anyone a “Hightower cussing” (that’s another post someday) and I didn’t say anything I needed to take back.
I hope I can learn from this short episode that anger really accomplishes nothing and when it’s over I just feel guilty. There are many things that happen that we should be angry over but we just can’t let our anger fester and grow. I’ve seen what a lifetime of anger looks like and there is nothing good that comes from it. I’ve also seen what forgiveness looks like in a friend that I’ll write part 2 about. As a teaser I’ll just tell you that when I met her about 4 years ago she was angry, unforgiving, and miserable and couldn’t wait to tell anyone she met about it. She had a right to be. She has now been able to forgive and she is a new, happy person who sees her life in a whole new light.
Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.
Proverbs 29:11
Ooh girl. There’s a reason I couldn’t read this until just now. We had that kind of morning AT CHURCH of all places. He said something that embarrassed me and that’s all it took. Sat on opposite ends of the pew. 🙄🤦🏻♀️😘 thank you!