Dwight Eisenhower, the future WWII Supreme Commander and U.S. President, was only ten. It was Halloween night and he desperately wanted to go out Trick-or-Treating with his older brothers, but his parents said no. He argued fiercely for permission to go, but to no avail. When his brothers headed off without him, he lost his temper. He rushed into the yard and smashed his fists repeatedly into the trunk of an apple tree until they bled, stopping only when his father physically drug him back into the house and administered corporal punishment. “He was sent to bed, where he lay sobbing, full of humiliation, disappointment, and frustration.”
After about an hour, his mother lovingly entered his room seeking to reassure and secure him. She tended to his bleeding hands, but also tended to his future. She told him that mastering his temper was the task of growing up! She quoted, “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Prov. 16:32). 50 years later, Ike would recall his mother’s advice and noted that it marked a change in his life. He called it, “one of the most valuable moments of my life.”
Ike could always have a temper, but he became far better known for his “calm strength under pressure.” “He developed a simple method for handling rage, an “anger drawer” in his desk into which he dropped slips of paper with the names of people he was angry at. Once in the drawer, the grievance was banished from thought.”
Have you mastered your temper? Part of growing up–and we never quit doing that–is learning to control and master it! The Apostle Paul commanded Christians to “Be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your wrath, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Eph. 4:26-27). If you don’t master it, Satan will use it regularly to keep you enslaved.
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This story about Dwight Eisenhower and the quotes are taken from Three Days in January by Bret Baier (p. 21-22).
