March 30

Mar 30 - Today from Proverbs 30 we look at verses 32 & 33
"If you have played the fool and exalted yourself, or if you have planned evil, clap your hand over your mouth! For as churning milk produces butter, and twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife."

Verse 33 begins with the words "For as", connecting the verse to enhance the principle of verse 32. So we will begin by thinking through the reasoning of verse 33. The first thing that comes to mind is that churning milk and twisting a nose are both actions which require deliberate force from the person performing the action. Both actions produce an expected result. These two actions are presented as an analogy for the third action of stirring up anger. We know this from the "as-so" connection within the verse. The lesson: Any person who deliberately engages in behavior that will stir up anger should expect that the result will produce strife. The odd thing is that few people operate on this simple principle. They engage in behavior that any reasonable person would assume would stir up anger, and then they are surprised, shocked, regretful or offended when it does produce violent conflict and dissension. I know this because I am as guilty as anyone. I've been married for over thirty years. I have had plenty of experience in saying things that I should have known would anger my dear wife - but I went ahead and said them anyway because I thought it was important make my point. It is strange that even after so many years, I am still surprised at her angry reaction. "Why couldn't she see things my way in this matter JUST ONCE? She got angry the last twenty three times too. I guess she still doesn't get it." Why am I surprised? Ah-h-h-h, now we go back to verse 32. Because I played the fool! I should have just clapped my hand over my mouth, but my pride wouldn't allow it. I can say though, that after 30 years I have gained some wisdom. ‘Making my point’ isn’t nearly as important as it used to be. Some opinions are better left unsaid. My sons call it 'mellowing'. "Boy, dad is really mellowing in his old age." Call it what you like, but there is a lot less strife in our marriage and in other areas of my life. Oh, we still have our areas of disagreements. It's just that we have learned to approach them differently. There is much less churning and twisting and much more listening and reasoning.
I wish I had sought after wisdom much earlier in life. I'll bet my wife does too.