Read: Proverbs 22:24 NRSV
Make no friends with those given to anger, and do not associate with hotheads, or you may learn their ways and entangle yourself in a snare.
In some ways we are like children walking past a giant mud puddle. We know that we should steer clear of it and walk on the dry sidewalk, but another impulse urges us to make a terrific leap right into the center, splashing it all over our pants.
We know what good, healthy, and productive conversations look like, but sometimes the impulse to complain, gossip, and criticize is hard to overcome.
We might never be free from the temptation to engage in slander or other forms of abusive language, but we can recognize the temptation that exists within us and better avoid situations that are particularly tempting: the teachers’ lounge, a jaded coworker, a friend who can’t seem to stop complaining about their partner.
For some, the spiritual gifts of comfort and wisdom allow them to meet people as they are and soothe their anger and stifle the slander. These people can provide healing counsel where others might be tempted to sin. However, each of us must examine our own culpability to anger before we attempt it. Can we steer a friend out of the path of the mud puddle without stepping into it ourselves?
