The Sting When You Don’t Get Your Way

Have you ever felt that sting
when you don’t get your way?
You find yourself getting upset.
There’s the “how dare they” questions,
the anger that begins to simmer.
The myriad of things that begin
to boil and seethe.
Retaliation temptations try to seize
and just so many awful feelings.
The darker thoughts form
and you can’t see or say anything
of value in the person(s).
I kinda sit up and take notice
when the case of the uglies arises
in me.
Whatever touches something inside
to the point where ugly thoughts
and attitudes come to the surface
is my measuring gauge on my own
inner well being.
Why did I react the way I did?
What touched me off to the point
where my thinking pattern went there?
Is there still a deep wound
that needs healing that someone
disturbed and now it’s throbbing?

I remember something someone said
several years ago about our self
(the selfish nature or flesh)....
“A dead man, when he is kicked,
never kicks back. He is dead).
What a visual of the nature
of what is dead.
Is my old nature dead yet?
Is there an issue I need to take
before my Heavenly Father
and sit with Him
and share my heart about?
I cannot play a victim and blame
those around me for the way I behave.
I have to take ownership for that.
No matter what anyone has done
or is doing or not doing,
we have all the love
and all the resources
we ever need from our Father
to bring us healing and peace
and to know everything
is under His control.
He will tell you how to live life,
how to respond, how to relate,
how to come away and rest.
He’ll heal you in every area you need
as you share all of what you go through
with Him.
It’ll take time to learn to go to Him
and how to hear His voice
and to practice doing life His way.
But He will never steer you wrong.
If you look to people
and only take counsel from others,
you will be a wreck.
(No matter how wonderful they are).
They do not know you like
your Heavenly Father does.
They don’t love you like He does.
They don’t know the plans God
has for you and purposed for you.
He alone does.
So that makes it a lot easier for you
because you can retreat safely
into His everlasting arms
and be made whole and go back out
a better person.
Sometimes you do need to get away.
Away from the masses, the pressures,
the performances and the energy-draining cesspool
of never-ending religion.
You’ll find that all who have found
peace with God have been given
His wisdom on how to disconnect
from the chaos with His help
and direction.
It’s in the quiet that you hear.
It’s in the beauty of His Presence
in the surroundings of His choice
where you thrive.
Disconnect from the blame,
the pointing of fingers,
the thinking that life does things
to you and you can’t help
what it does to you.
You can help it. You are not
a victim of life.
Lean into God and go to Him often.
And find your healing.
Learn to be filled with all of His fullness.
Then you will have something,
Someone, a deep substance
to contribute to mankind.
Wholeness affects what it needs to
from the inside-out.
It affects everything from the ground-up.
It is the start of a solid foundation.
And it all started with turning to Christ.
Find Him and find Life.
The old nature will die.
And in Him you will live.