Your Life

Friday, Oct. 23, 2009

Steamed? Coming unglued?

Germs seem to be on the rise. The flu, the H1N1 virus, West Nile. You name it, it’s out there. You can hear it everywhere. Cough, cough, sniff, sniff, moans and groans signal “run.”

It put me in mind of another day in the history of my family. Cataloged in our minds is the plight of the “Monster Crud.” It was one of those bugs that assaulted the whole family with chills, sore throats, monstrous headaches and a cough that could choke a cow and break the ribs of a dinosaur.

Our youngest got a full dose, and we wound up doing battle with this enemy virus.

As she struggled to croak out, “I can’t breathe” in the middle of the night, all the stops were pulled out and Meemaw’s emergency home remedy was put into action. Rushing into the bathroom, I turned the shower on as hot as it would go. The bathroom took on the look and feel of a professional sauna. The steam was so thick you couldn’t see your hand in front of you. I held my poor darlin’ in the middle of that thick cloud, and we both had a healing.

The problem with our medicinal bath became evident the next morning. Something else in the household had let loose with a big problem. The onslaught of steam had caused all the glue in the bathroom to disintegrate.

Do you have any idea much stuff in a bathroom is held up with glue? That would be wallpaper, certain fixtures and an antique cabinet, to name just a few. The doors to the cabinet fell off and the sides were threatening to give way. All of this damage because of a lot of hot air and steam.

Now, that’ll preach. Is that what happens to our insides when we get all steamed up? Does anger cause you to feel like a volcano? When you hold anger in, do you feel like a pressure cooker? Are you coming unglued?

If you are breathing, anger is a reality.

It’s been going on for all time. Scripture paints a picture of a lot of steaming-mad people, but it also shows how we can get a grip. Be angry and sin not. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. One of my go-to verses is in Psalm 37. It lets me know that instead of getting worked up, I need to rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

When I do that it helps bring down the boiling point. It’s kind of like a cleansing to keep the disease at bay. Don’t let the germs of anger germinate.

Anger’s one bugger of a disease I don’t need. It’s debilitating. God’s Word and the Holy Spirit can help us keep the glue of our lives from dissolving when we’re sweltering. So, if today the glue of your life is threatening to dissolve, send a quick prayer heavenward and ask for some big time help. It will save a meltdown.

Jesus can keep your pressure cooker from blowing a gasket. Let Him be the glue that holds you together.

Oh, yeah — as far as it’s possible, stay away from those germs, y’all.

Kandi Anderson, a free-lance writer, also speaks on matters of faith and values.