Temperance

I visited a blog recently, Everyday Kathy, and I really enjoyed going through her posts. I came across Ben Franklin's 13 Virtues while on her blog. As I went through them I thought that they would be great starters for some blog posts. I don't know much about Ben Franklin's life but doing some research on these virtues, it is said that he was partially inspired by Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."

I don't know if I will do them in order of if I will write on all of them but I thought I would start with Temperance.

What is temperance? According to Webster's it is 1 : "moderation in action, thought, or feeling : restraint 2 a : habitual moderation in the indulgence of the appetites or passions.

I believe that temperance is not something that is very popular in today's society. We live in a " I want it" now society. A society filled with excess and lack of self control. If temperance or moderation was practiced I wonder if there would be so many of us in debt; the need to keep up with the neighbors and live beyond our means. A lack of restraint have landed many in sticky situations, and our jails may include a population of those to which temperance was not even a thought. Our various health problems brought on by an excess of food and other extremes that include body image distortions in some of our teens, have our lives out of balance.

Even as Christians many of us have rushed ahead of what God has truly purposed for our lives and in our rush to "fix it ourselves" we don't stop to think and end up in worse situations. Thank goodness that we have a merciful God who picks us up after our mistakes and brushes us off and helps us to get back on track.

I want to bring moderation to my actions, thoughts and feelings, taking time to think on the goodness of God, the goodness in people and the potential for greatness in everyone. My pastor message this week was on Psalm 23, and he talked about allowing God to "lead us by still waters" allowing Him to make us "lie down in green pastures" and slowing down long enough to allow "goodness and mercy" to catch up with us.

What are your thoughts on temperance?