Calmness In Error

If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your post; calmness can
lay great errors to rest.- Ecclesiastes 10:4

My daughter has three large dogs and our neighbor has about one hundred sheep. Between them stands a barbed wire fence. The fence posts have been standing for quite a few years and lately some of them have not been standing, but rather leaning. When a fence post leans, it allows the barbed wire to be of a lower altitude than originally intended. The dogs appreciated the opportunity and jumped the fence to spend some time chasing the sheep in many different directions. There was bleating and barking and then a gun shot. Our neighbor was not at all pleased with the mayhem he witnessed in his pasture. The dogs came running back and immediately hid under the truck. Our neighbor came to the fence and called to me to come over. Our neighbor is well known for his violent temper. It was quite a distance from where I was standing to the fence. That provided me with a lot of thinking time. I was thinking to myself that I would let him have a piece of my mind before he shared his mind with me. After all, the fence is his responsibility and I was awfully tired of hearing those sheep all day and night. Halfway to the fence, my thoughts stopped short. The dogs had crossed the fence and were harassing his sheep. They had no right to be over there.
I approached the fence with a different view of things. Instead of getting all heated and upset, I apologized for the dogs. I promised to tie them up until we had completed the pen we were building. To my surprise, my neighbor looked surprised. I calmly explained to him that I had company and someone had untied the dogs by mistake. I reassured him that I would keep them away from his yard. My neighbor had started to say something, but then he hung his head for a moment. Then he looked at me and simply said that he would repair the fence. He thanked me for my efforts to keep the dogs from his yard.
I walked away from that fence with a real sense of “Jesus in me.” I also learned once again the valuable lesson of calmness. My friend who had been standing with me was amazed. She has only been saved two years. She kept saying over and over, “You were so calm.” Yes, I had been calm, once I let the Lord change my attitude. Because of that calmness, my neighbor responded to me differently and the whole situation was saved. Too many times we have a strike first attitude, but actually it is our calmness that can “lay great errors to rest.”