The First of the Morning
I messed up. This morning I did what I am breaking the habit of doing and that’s- picking up my phone to get on instagram. The first thing that I saw was a man violently abusing a woman in front of a 5 month old child. It really messed me up. Today is my dad’s birthday and I did not intend to start a day of celebration this way.
I am a mother of a 2 year old and 7 month old so it was very triggering. Thankfully, I have never experienced what this young woman was, but my heart ached for my sister. And I say sister because I really do look at people as brothers and sisters in Christ…that’s family whether I know her or not.
It was amazing to me how anger could make someone so irrational to the point that they would expose an innocent 5 month old to such a trauma- something this child may potentially have to deal with in their adult life now. Let’s be clear, I am not a therapist, but it is apparent that child witnessed something they never should have.
I was really upset with myself because the first of my morning should ALWAYS go to God- not social media, my phone, whatever. Nothing is more important than that. Now I’m sitting here wondering how I have probably damaged the projection of my day because of a bad habit. The thing about it is, once you see something or are exposed to it, there’s no taking that back.
I asked God to forgive me for not addressing Him first, but also asked that He would give me a scripture to address what was so disturbing to me this morning. And he gave me these:
So then, my beloved brethren, let man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of a man does not produce righteousness of God.
-James 1: 19-20
He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes the city.
-Proverbs 16:32
So may we be slow to anger my sisters and brothers. Many bad things come from it and it is better that we have self control, to not allow our anger to get the best of us. It is dangerous and can do A LOT of damage.
It’s safe to say that I will be doing some purging of my social media today. The content we consume has significant effects on the projection of our day. We have to be mindful and intentional of what we expose ourselves and children to in-person and online.
Nevertheless, let us keep this young woman and her child in our prayers and any other people experiencing a similar situation. May God be with them.
