E-Check

I live in Ohio, where we have to have an emissions test (E-check) on our cars every other year. Yesterday, I took the party car for her required test, and it got me to thinking...

What if we had e-checks for people? Before you get too far into that thought, I should clarify. I am not proposing a biennial test of vapor emissions from anyone, especially not husbands! Rather, a human e-test would be a personal and regular evaluation of our emotional responses, and how those responses color our world and affect those around us. 

Even if this is only the second post you've read in this blog, you will likely recognize that Pretty was created as a very emotional person. If this is the first post you've read, I hope you'll take a few minutes to look around the blog and see what I mean. I am very, very emotional. The truth is that we all are. We may differ in how we react and respond, but we are all created emotional beings.

Some time ago, while working with a group of 5th and 6th graders at church, I shared this idea with them, and they were not instant believers. But when I said, "Girls cry and boys yell, that's just what happens," even those pre-teens agreed that maybe I had a point. While there are exceptions to this rule, it does carry on into adulthood, and it is a good thing to keep in mind when dealing with people (and their emotions)! The best advice, whether you want to laugh or cry or yell, is to just let yourself feel it, and be careful to not direct your feelings at someone who has nothing to do with them.

Just this morning, Sweetie was working on a job in the living room, and when he realized that the job might not go smoothly, that there might be yelling involved, he chose how to react and respond. Well, he chose to take his reactions and responses out to the garage, so that his outbursts (if there were any) wouldn't affect his very emotional wife. He was also protecting me from the smelly stuff he would be spraying, and I am thankful that he shielded me from flying emotions and chemicals! (For the record, when he came back in, he reported that there was no cursing or throwing things. The job went much better than expected...yay!)

I tend to manage my emotions with deep breathing, prayer and knitting. Sometimes I also cry and even yell...and that's ok. I do my best not to let my emotional reactions spill over onto others, but sometimes I just need a good cry. At other times, I need a good laugh, and it seems to me that the laughter and tears balance each other out pretty well. Everything is a process, and when it comes to emotions, it is still best to just let myself feel it.

Often my knitting reminds me that there is a process to everything. You cast on, follow the pattern, and then bind off. Sometimes there are seams to sew, and there are always ends to weave in. In the end, you have a completed project and maybe even a gift for a dear friend!

Sometimes my knitting goes late into the night. Those are the times that I can embrace the stillness and listen for God's leading through an emotional time, and share my heart with a cuddle-y friend.

And sometimes I even put the knitting down, in favor of complete stillness. Usually the clicking of the needles is like a balm for my heart, as His Word is a balm for my soul, and I alternate between knitting and just holding the stitches in my hands. In these times, I opt for the simplest projects, and I pray through each stitch, remembering God's promise to never leave me or forsake me. 

I am thankful that I was created to be this me, knit together in my mother's womb. I am one of God's masterpieces, and I am loved. I am so very loved, and you are too. If you're not feeling loved today, remember John 3:16 - For God so loved you and me that he gave his one and only Son, that you and I, when we believe in Him, will not die but have eternal life. (My paraphrase, His idea.)

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health.