November 7th

Leadership at Work and Home

A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back. Proverbs 29:11

Do you wear your heart on your sleeve? If you do, I'm not telling you that it's wrong by any means, but I am saying that it's good to have boundaries.

I'm telling you this because we all know how things can sometimes get in our families.

The fact of the matter is that families are made up of a whole bunch of people who are nothing like one another, which means that there's a whole lot of potential for confusion and conflict. When we express our confusion in an emotionally charged way, or even in ways we think are innocent and well-intentioned, we can really hurt one another.

It's like when that garage door finally goes down, you just let out all the dirty laundry.

And our verse today would caution us as to the effectiveness of that, telling us that we don't need to vent it all out in the way we often do the moment that we get inside the home.

Now, my church has a school, and my kids have all gone there. What my kids see in me on this campus shouldn't be all that different than the dad they see at home. The dad and the mom that they see at church should be the dad and mom that they see at home. There should be no mask that comes off when the front door closes, like it's a Jekyll and Hyde sort of a thing where they're left wondering who the real you is.

You don't need to vent all your feelings, letting it all out. There's something to be said here about timing, about the counsel of how much of that type of spewing is overheard and seen and then picked up in the lives of our kids.

In fact, the more that the two of you, as husband and wife, can be seen in this sole-hearted unity, the better off it is for your kids. You say, Well, that's just impossible. We are so opposite in the way we think kids should be raised, or, It's a blended home, or, They're getting that when they're with mom and this when they're with dad. It's just sort of out of control.

You know what? There is only so much you and I can control. And here, the wisdom of Solomon would say to make sure the things you can control are coming under the control of the Holy Spirit, that it's not a free-for-all, vent it all out, let it hit the fan and see what's left when the dust clears the environment in which your kids forced to grow up in their own home.

Our kids need better than this, and so do we, so let's guard what we say and hold back what we vent.

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You that You still love even when You don't like what You see. Please help me to hold back my words and to choose to love instead!

Amen