Master of Emotions

I’ve been followed lately by this idea that feelings have no place in my life. Feelings. Such fickle little things. Happy. Sad. Bored. Excited. Discouraged. Depressed. Inspired. Rejected. How many days have I allowed to be determined by them?

“There is no word for feelings or mood in the Hebrew language.” I listen to Rabbi Daniel Lapin instruct me as I drive to work. I consider it, play it back, and listen again. “There is no word for feelings or mood in the Hebrew language.”

Hebrew. God’s language. That’s how much stock God put in human feelings. He didn’t even create a word for it. What does that mean exactly? God doesn’t even give lip service to my feelings…the very things I so often let dictate life around me. Hmmm…I grab my bag and run up the stairs, putting the thought on my mental shelf.

I run into Mardel’s…meeting a friend to shop for Bunko prizes…and I get no further than through the door. “Babies!” I exclaim. The display at the front of the store almost takes my breath away. Joyce Meyer’s new book: Living beyond Your Feelings. I’m a little weirded out. I walk by, hesitantly, twisting my head to read as I pass. I don’t pick it up. I don’t have to. “There is no word for feelings or mood in the Hebrew language.” I take the thought off my shelf. No word for feelings. Live beyond your feelings. Is it possible? I see my friend, and the thought goes back on the shelf for later consideration.

I can’t sleep. The minutes tick by: 3:33…3:56…4:18. I pick up my phone, check out Facebook. A poem on a friend’s wall:

 

If I feel depressed I will sing.
If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I feel ill I will double my labor….

Today, I will be the master of my emotions.

 

I put my phone down. “There is no word for feelings or mood in the Hebrew language.” I think about it…consider it. Today, I will be the master of my emotions. God has no word for feelings. My feelings. I give so much energy to them. I devote so much time to them. And God considers them so insignificant, he didn’t even make a word to talk about the subject.

 

I think about books I’ve read, snippets seen. Love is a choice. It’s not a feeling. It’s a deliberate, everyday, giving of self…choosing to give of self. Joy is a choice. It’s a decision…to find God in everything…in the big, in the small, in the exciting, in the mundane. Thanksgiving is a choice. To be thankful. I have breath. I am alive to experience…whatever that experience may be.

 

And I begin to see…a faint hint of understanding. “There is no word for feelings or mood in the Hebrew language.” Our day is our choice. My day is my choice. And today, I will be the master of my emotions.

21. Revelation

22. BabyWise

23. Birthdays

24. Good friends on a warm summer’s night

25. Thanksgiving plans

26. Role models

27. Former students

28. Current students

29. Cake

30. Music

31. Oliver

32. Growing Kids God’s Way

33. Chance meetings

34. Fellow twin parents

35. Opportunities to encourage

36. Opportunities to be encouraged

37. 1000 Gifts

38. Good sleepers

39. Good eaters

40. A reliable baby sitter