There was a time when I felt powerless. Powerless to be happy…to control my moods, to make life go the way I wanted it to go. Powerless to not be controlled by the moods or opinions of others around me. Powerless to stop being codependent or controlling of others.
Recently I came across this ancient proverb:
Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. (1)
Wow! It is more powerful to rule over your own spirit than to have what it takes to rule over a whole city!
What would you rather have? The ability to take over a city…not that you want to take a city and control it, but to have that kind of ability and power…you could do anything you want to do, right?! Or, would you rather have the ability to rule over your own spirit? To know how to subdue your anger, conquer your depression, send away anxiety…and how about this…have mastery over your own fears.
What would you give to have mastery over your own fears?! Is this even possible?
Notice this proverb doesn’t say get rid of all anger, cause anger is baaaad.
One who is slow to anger is in control of their anger.
Maybe there is even a productive purpose for a certain kind of controlled anger.
And then there is fear. Fear can alert you to danger and save your life. Or fear can consume you and destroy your life.
Fear happens. It comes with living on this earth. To see it and know what to do with it, to take control of the fear that rises up in your own heart—-this is true power. This is self control. This is one who rules his spirit.
This frees you up to be able to conquer the world. The world of YOU.
To have that kind of ability and power…you could do anything you want to do.
Then you may know what it is to take a city.
Are you thinking, yeah right. It's not that easy. That's what I'm thinking too. It took me a while to realize it, but I was getting angry about current conditions. Injustice, abuse of power, and incivility by leaders of governments--those make me angry. Controlling the lives of others for political agendas--that makes me angry. Then there are personal issues--and that is what I can deal with today.
A good place to start...again... is with the truth.... There is a power inside of YOU that is so great — it enables you to rule over your own spirit, your heart and your soul.
When you look inside the TRUE YOU, you will find goodness and
greatness…you will have confidence in the REAL YOU. (2)
Have confidence in your power and ability to rule over your spirit. It begins with the power to choose. Another beautiful thing inside of the REAL YOU. Here’s the deal—you get to choose—how you rule over YOU.
Do you know the power of YOU?
(1) Proverbs 16.32
(2) Living in The World of Shapes, p 21
Martha J Rogers is the author of Living in The World of Shapes.
Living in The World of Shapes, page 21