In a Race that Matters

Blow one’s top Go berserk Let off steam Mad as a wet hen A bull in rampage These are the idoms in my writer’s tickler that fall under my scribbles on anger. Alongside are words evocative of the same meaning – rage, indignation, wrath, ire, fury. For the past weeks, I have been brooding over this negative emotion that has caused many an earthling to make brash decisions and actions that have damaging consequences. It has also caused needless grief and heartache. I have encountered people who often display this emotion – at school, at work, at home, in the grocery store, in the parking lot, in the restaurant—practically anywhere. I have also observed that its display is not confined to a particular class or age group. When piqued, kids fight back. When scolded, teens lash acerbic words. When bored or ignored, wives nag. Fathers spank. Bosses shout. Employees backbite. Soldiers shoot. Still, others kill. Where did this ticking time bomb of emotion originate? Why do we experie...

My devotions these past these days centered on Wanda Sanseri’s God’s Priceless Woman —a 182-page study manual of Biblical models on how a godly woman should live. I went over this material a year ago, but the lessons got somehow lost with the daily grind. It took me another crack of serious studying to be refreshed anew of the timeless insights and spiritual jewels hidden in its pages. Indeed, it pays to keep books at arm’s length even as they have been read twice over. One can never fully grasp any read in just one sitting. Every flick of a page opens up to new realizations and new insights that somehow escaped my finite understanding as first time reader. This week, I was particularly struck with the lesson on Fearing God. There are two definitions of “Fear” in my elder brother’s musty, worn-out, 1996Webster Comprehensive Dictionary. First, it is defined as “ an emotion excited by threatening evil or impending pain, accompanied by a desire to avoid or escape it .” It...