Exercise Self-control

We were all set to play basketball last Monday. My friends just concluded watching a Lakers-Celtics Championship game. Those who were Celtics fans were inspired to play (yes, Celtics won that game), while the Lakers fans wanted to pour out their frustrations in our game. All geared up and ready to go, suddenly it rained...hard. All of our plans of getting some action went down the drain.

There are times when our plans fail and we can't do anything about it. We did our best to prepare, poured our heart out into our work, then things turned out different. I got an email that talked about Covey's 90-10 principle that states that "10% of life is made up of what happens to you, 90% is decided by how you react. We really have no control of over 10% that happens to us, but we have control of the rest of the 90% by our reactions." We can't stop the rain from falling, but we can control our reactions towards the situation. A lot of the negative happenings in our life are caused by our lack of self-control. In Proverbs 5:28 it says, "Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control."

With a lack of self-control, there are words we say that unnecessarily hurt other people, specially those closest to us. When people fail us or offend us, even unintentionally, our negative reactions make the situation worse. We say things like, 'bad trip!' or 'what a hassle' or even 'ikaw kasi (it's your fault).' Some react violently and result to physical abuse. In other situations, even an angry reaction for the smallest of reasons, can cause a break-up in relationships.

My reflection is that seemingly unfortunate happenings are opportunities for us to become real Christians. This is the time when we come to know how deeply rooted we are in the Lord. These are chances where we can honor the Lord by our self-control and our faithfulness to follow His ways. The Lord was so attuned to His Father's will and His love that He even told us to 'Love our enemies (Luke 6:27)' and to 'Turn the other cheek (Luke 6:29).' Let us therefore exercise self-control. "Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. (1 Cor. 9:25)"

With His Spirit, we are empowered to do what is right in very challenging situations. We are called to go beyond our emotions and be reminded of what is Christian. WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) was so popular before that most of my friends wore a WWJD bracelet. Even if the bracelet isn't the fad anymore, 'WWJD'remains a good self-check when we are in an untoward circumstance.

On that Monday holiday, instead of playing basketball, we ended up going swimming and was able to bond more through our sharing of recent struggles, experiences, and fun old memories. No one regretted not being able play our most anticipated basketball game. We didn't blame
the rain or the open court or the organizer. We simply decided that maybe God had better plans.