proverbs 15:1

While we were at my parents' house last week, I noticed something.  On their refrigerator amongst the photos of my children, magnetic notepads and other things, there was this Bible verse.

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.  Proverbs 15:1

This was significant because recently I had noticed how my children were speaking to eachother.  The were getting more and more exasperated in their speech.  They were certainly very quick to get angry with eachother.  That's when I realized where they were getting this from...me.

Often I have struggled with impatience and being quick to anger.  I decided that we need to work on learning this verse during our Christmas break from AWANAs.  So we started this morning. 

The more we said this verse, the more I really thought about what it said. 
A soft answer turns away WRATH.  A harsh word stirs up anger.
From Merriam-Webster.com
Wrath:  strong vengeful anger or indignation.


If you think about that.  A soft answer does more than a harsh word.  It's more powerful.  It turns away strong vengeful anger. 

I asked the children what kind of home we wanted. Do we want an angry home or a gentle and soft home? They were all agreed about it. We want a soft and gentle home.  We want our home to turn away strong vengeful anger at the door.  To not even let it in.

So that's what we all are working this Christmas.  We are memorizing this verse to equip ourselves for those moments when we begin to stir up anger in eachother.  By doing this, I hope we can stop wrath from even entering in.