STAY CALM

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your post; calmness can lay great offenses to rest.

Ecclesiastes 10:4

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

About 15 years ago, I reported to a Navy destroyer for duty and assumed the position of Departmental Leading Chief Petty Officer. Shortly afterwards, my new Department Head, a Navy Officer who I would work directly for came aboard. It was around the time that annual evaluations were being conducted on the senior enlisted leaders.

As my new boss started his work, it was obvious right from the start that he had a flaw. He liked to micro-manage people, especially the junior Officers under his authority. This tendency spilled over to the way the evaluations were going to be handled as the Department Head chose to do the debriefs himself instead of delegating the responsibility to the junior Officers who better knew the way the leaders had performed over the prior year. This obviously did not make the leaders happy because the new Department Head knew nothing about what they had done.

Well, as you can guess, I had an opportunity to sit down with my boss and during our discussion about the department, he asked me what I thought about the way we were doing business. I, being the upfront and honest person that I am, took the opportunity to share with my boss that I felt he needed to not micro-manage his Officers so much and instead seek more to professionally develop them. Senior leaders have an obligation to train their successors.

How did my boss receive that feedback?

He proceeded to start cursing at me, yelling at the top of his lungs about how I don’t know anything about him and how he leads, about how I have no business to criticize him. This went on for several minutes.

Now, I am a person who hates cursing and I really hate it when someone decides to use it to deride someone. In this case, I was the target of the derision and my Department Head was letting me have it.

I just sat there and looked at him because at that point, he had lost his mind. His actions were simply crazy and I was not about to get excited and start yelling back at him. I decided to stay calm and wait for him to finish which he did after a few minutes.

After he stopped, I asked him if he was done. He said he was and so I told him that I thought we were there to have a professional discussion about our department and what we could do to make it better. I told him I didn’t come there to be yelled and cursed at. If that was where the discussion was going to go again, then I was done talking.

What happened next was amazing because this senior Officer leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath, and apologized to me for what he had done. We went on to have the kind of conversation I thought we would have from the beginning and I want you to know that from that point on, the two of us had the best working relationship you could ever imagine.  

What is the lesson I learned?

We too often get into an exchange with someone when they get angry and start to raise their voice at us. The end result is an argument and typically, there is no good outcome from that. It takes two people to have an argument and if one opts to not get into it, then peace can ensue. Think about it, the calm approach I took with my boss actually de-escalated the situation and led to resolution.

In the end translation, how we respond to adversity makes all the difference in the world.

This is the point of God’s word for us today from the fourth verse of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 10:

If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your post; calmness can lay great offenses to rest.

Calmness leads to rest and peace. It settles volatile situations and restores relationships when applied properly. We find it by emulating Jesus, the Prince of peace in the way we live, the One who will always bring calm in the midst of the storm.

He proved as much when He was in a boat with His disciples on the Sea of Galilee. A great storm blew in and as the boat was being rocked by the building waves, the disciples became frightened. Facing the fury of the squall, they lost their faith and peace even though Jesus was right there with them. Would Jesus really allow them to perish while He was asleep in the boat’s hold? The disciples sure thought so.

We know this because they went to Jesus and woke Him up, imploring Him to do something before they drowned. Scripture tells us that Jesus scolded them before He rebuked the wind and waves, an action that cause them to immediately calm (Matthew 8:23-27).

That’s what Jesus will do for any of us. He will bring us calm in the midst of any storm to include any anger that may rise up against us from someone. The next time you feel the waves and winds of another’s rage begin to build, trust in Jesus to bring you to peace and stay calm in His Spirit. He will always deliver.  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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