Ghost Town, Being Happy Where You Are, and Working on Anger

"We just get the one life, you know. Just one. You can't live someone else's or think it's more important just because it's more dramatic. What happens matters. May be only to us, but it matters."

This quote was taken from the movie Ghost Town and I love it. So often our concerns are trivialized because we have this mindset that someone else has hurt more, been through more, or even accomplished more. While it is almost always true, our own lives and concerns should not be discarded as mediocre in comparison to someone else's. As humans, I believe that we need to know that our pain or joy is important to others without it being compared to others. I am so guilty of looking at what I don't have and what others do have. It is a constant challenge for me to just be myself, to take what I have and be satisfied.


In a sermon I heard once, he said "be happy where you are." Don't misunderstand. I feel incredibly blessed. I love my family, I love my husband and the life we have built and are continuing to build, I have my faith. But there is always this internal battle that I fight with myself to be satisfied. I want to be the person who says God's grace is sufficient. Yet, it feels like I fall into the rhythm of the world so easily; entangled by the standards defined by the world, not by Christ.


Joe and I began reading through and completing the dares in the book The Love Dare. We started only a couple of days ago, but I see so many issues within myself. It is so easy to blame someone else for the way we feel or act. One of the things that the book talked about that really stepped on my toes was anger. One question asked "Do you find that anger is your emotional default when treated unfairly?" If I am honest, the answer to that question is yes. Lately, I do get angry a lot more than I used. I usually have an excuse for why. But what I am beginning to understand is that anger is an easy reaction because patience takes a lot of self control. It is so much easier to be angry. But anger eats away at spirit, as well as moments in life that we'll never get back.

"He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding; but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly." Proverbs 14:29
"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." James 1:19

With that in mind, I hope to continue running the race, gaining patience, losing anger, and learning how to be a better servant of Christ and a better wife.