Restraint

“HE WHOSE SPIRIT IS WITHOUT RESTRAINT IS LIKE A CITY THAT IS BROKEN DOWN AND WITHOUT WALLS”. Word. Literally. (Proverbs 25:28)

Restraint has been my buzzword for the past few days. It means to hold back, to exercise control and ‘hinderance of the will’. Wow.

Emotions are wild little things arent they? Anger, Lust, love, sadness, joy… all can grab one with such a ferocious grip that we often get lost in them.

I, Demi Gbenle, am an emotional person and for the most part, have allowed emotions to dictate my mood and actions. Ok so someone with a name close to mine bar a different vowel,  annoys with one innocuous statement. Im angry. instead of getting over it in 5 minutes and being a happy person of life, i (used to by God’s grace) go into one rage, slapping on potential statements and past scenarios, all culminating in violent words and ending in a genuine, physical headache lol.

What am i saying? I could have chosen to take the emotion of anger, massage it a bit, if it all, and put it in the bin. We can choose how we react when emotions come. Thats where restraint comes in. People, my dear people, can be stressful. I know you find me stressful at times, as do i, you :p. But restraint is vital in all our human relations.

Number a. Parents. Parents can be difficult, #NoRudeness, Its just the truth. But we should exercise restraint in the way we talk to our parents, they aren’t our ‘mates’. So the next time you feel an *i hate you, slam door* coming on, RESTRAIN yourself. Hold back the rude response and breathe.                                    

part 2. Friends. Great tools to survive in this jungle called life. lets all take a moment to thank God for friends. *Amen* but friends can annoy. Alie? Friends can vex, frustrate and upset us. in those hopefully rare occasions, restraint is great. Hmm, this just came to mind. Restraint may be slightly more vital in friendships than with family, because blood cant bedisregarded. Friendships can. So when you are just hot with anger, your heart is racing, ready to knock his block off or ready to give her a piece of your mind and foot, pause for a hot minute and restrain yourself.

If you need to not reply that text for a bit, dont. carry your legs and walk away when the argument is getting heated. Hold your right fist in your left hand and massage it gently lol. RESTRAIN yourself.

erm, 3. lol. people you know, like, fancy. Woi, this is neccestrrry! to the max. Trust.me. yeah, so he’s so like super cute, even like seeing his name on fb just makes your tummy go in knots. I cant write from the guys perspective because frankly, i dont get them lol but im sure they have parallel feelings.

Anyway, please, lets exercise restraint. Listen, im preaching to myself so dont start thinking ehn you dont even understand, cos i really do. Its hard but in the end it pays off. why? Because if the ‘feelings’ arent recip’d, we may not be as hurt as when we have text till our thumbs are mere nubs and frankly, embarrassed ourselves.

And also, one ideology i hear kicking about is that guys like to pursue. So if you’re just ‘all up in his grill’, he wont have any work to do!

thats it. Restraint. I urge you to practice it in whichever way you need to…

Proverbs 17:27: A man of knowledge uses words with restraint…

Galatians 5:23: …gentleness and self-control. There                                                                                         is no law against such things.