Finding a Moderate Temperament

Scripture:
Consider the work of God:

Who is able to make straight
    what He has made crooked?
In the day of prosperity be joyful,
    but in the day of distress consider:
God has made the one
    as well as the other.
For this reason man will not be able to understand
    anything that comes after him.

Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

Observation: As the author works his way through the meaninglessness of life, he begins to arrive at this conclusion ... that since good times and bad times exist, and since there seems to be no rhyme nor reason why people experience either, and since God is the all powerful creator whose ways we cannot understand ... we should not fret the hard times.

Hard times WILL come to all, just like the good times they are a part of this earth and this life created by God, and we cannot understand the reasons for either good or bad times, therefore simply exist through these situations. The writer also gives examples of this. He cautions against celebrating your wisdom (for your success will fade), avoid being foolish (for the celebration of good times will end), do not consider yourself righteous (for you will stumble into sin again), do not listen to praise (for your pride will bring your downfall).

In other words, in all things ... take it all in stride.

Application: I am on the backside of life, into my 50s, and am only just now realizing the wisdom of a moderate temperament. My intensity is too directed; My frustration is too angry; My happiness is too loud; My enjoyment is too gluttonous; My urgency is to impatient; My sadness is too deep.

And all these things occur at the price of my love, which is far too infrequent and limited. Love is the only emotion that should be continued with bouts of directed intensity, yet for me it is the only emotion that is mostly absent and always muted.

I only have about 40 percent of my life left, and I've messed this up for the first 60 percent. I need to find a better balance in my life. A balance that involves a calm and reflective nature through all the ups and downs of life, salted with a passion born of love for others.

Prayer: My Lord, God almighty, I do not know why my heart remains firmly in he "hard" category. I seek a new heart, filled with your love for others, passing through me. May I find this balance with your help. Or rather, may I discover a new imbalanced life, a scale that is not actually balanced with huge weights on all sides, but rather a scale without the burden of emotional weights except for being overloaded with love for all. Amen.