A Short Thought, I Thought

It Sometimes Happens.

My writing starts from somewhere: a memory, an incident, an accident, a thought, or reading others’ thoughts and words.

Today it is coming from something I read in the Book of Psalms, chapter 37, and verses 8 and 9, which says:

8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;

do not fret—it leads only to evil.

9 For those who are evil will be destroyed,

but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

I just got interrupted for the second time. I’ll write about it after I finish writing/talking about the Psalms.

The words anger and wrath are both nouns because they come after the preposition “from.” Anger is something that happens in our minds or hearts, while wrath is an action word. It is something we do, usually physically, to something or someone. Many times, the first thing that comes because of anger is hurtful words towards the person. This might then turn into some kind of angry words or revengeful action. When we can control the angry thoughts, angry words are not forthcoming, and this cools our revengeful thoughts and actions.

I like the next phrase: “do not fret.” Another translation reads: “Fret not yourself.” This seems to make it more personal, but it means the same thing. Don’t let yourself get angry. When we control our emotions, it is easier to control our actions, and that is God's purpose for us. It saves us a lot of headaches, and some of the headaches may even be physical, resulting in blood flow.

I would like to say that our actions will help control the situations, but this verse jumps right to the end or conclusions of those who are “evil.” It says those who are evil will be destroyed. Their lives may end so they cannot inherit the land, or the evil are destroyed eternally. I would rather neither of these happen, but something from my interaction with them may cause them to think twice about what their end might be and would want to change, so neither would be their end.

Another interruption occurred, but I am back, so it is on with what I had to say. (If I can remember my thoughts.)

I think that was enough about those thoughts, so on to the interruptions.

When my cat wants attention, he will usually come to where I am sitting, at the computer or in my recliner. Most of the time, he will gently pat me on my hand or leg with his front paw and walk away. That means I am to follow him. Sometimes it is to his bowl, to show me it’s empty, but this time it was to the hallway to tell me he wanted us to walk together. Both times this evening were for the walk.

He starts by walking beside me. This is good because it is better than me not getting him to come walk with me. It had been a wearysome time for me to get him to come away from our doorway and take a few steps down the hallway. It took me a long time to walk past the eight or so doorways to other apartments to get to the end of our long hallway before it joined another longer hallway to the elevators and more apartments. So far, he is comfortable walking the first hallway, but then it is time to head back home.

Well, this time, since it was his choice, we walked a short distance, and then he stepped in front of me, which is his signal for me to stop and reach down and pet him some. Today, it was more of the stopping and petting than the walking.

Now the second interruption took even longer for a shorter walk. He would stop whenever he felt like it and stop to groom himself. He is not close to me, so I can’t just reach down and pat him. He is three feet away, so I am just standing there in the middle of the hallway with him sitting on the hallway floor grooming himself all over. One thing I had never noticed him doing was cleaning his tail. He sat down, pulled his tail between his back legs, and started licking it from the start to the tail’s end.

I didn’t know how long this last walk of his would end, so I turned around and started coaxing him back to our door. He would look up at me and say with his eyes, “I am not cleaned yet,” so it took me a while to finish his cleaning work.

So now, you got two stories in one.

Two for one is good.

God bless my readers. If you thought someone else might have needed the Bible thoughts, please share with them as well as on your Facebook page.

If you have someone who has cats and thought they might need this lesson of patience with cats, share it with them. Sometimes it is hard to be patient when you are trying to do something else.

Suggest my work to someone you know who has time to read Newsie items from time to time.

6/20/2026

Larry E. Whittington