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The first line of the reading is one that makes you sit up and listen “Remember this, my dear brothers: be quick to listen but slow to speak and slow to rouse your temper; God’s righteousness is never served by man’s anger”

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It was a most timely message for me.  Shortly before that I read how someone had tweeted ‘Looks like Flavin is being horrible again……..’  It angered me at first and I have the broken phone to prove it.  But the I had to listen to the subtext of what the tweeter was saying, and as has been pointed out to me, it says more about the tweeter than I.

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My duty as a Christian is to make peace with those whom I have upset.  I fail so miserably at this that’s it’s almost an art form.  I have on several occasions suggested that various people and I leave each other in peace, they agree,  only to rise up with a little dig again.

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I tend to ignore these,  I just screencap and save them and try to leave it there, a bit like Uncle Matthew and his drawer in Love In A Cold Climate, but when I don’t, I blow like a steam liner.  Two weeks ago when the cabal of cowardice  decided it was time to get something nasty going again, I rose to the occasion.  In doing so I threatened to uncover the names of various people who justify their anonymity, which they use to negative effect, to make things stop.  This was wrong of me.  However, it seemed to have the desired effect.  Added to which, one of them admitted publicly that he accepts I have been harassed by these, shall we say, types.  So while I regret my actions, I certainly do not regret the outcome.

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At the weekend one account took a tweet where a deacon’s blog was complained about and added my URL to it, it was retweeted by another.  The latter was very silly, they know I know who they are, they know how badly their actions will be received.  With such a short time to retirement they may think they have nothing to lose, but to this particular person, reputation is everything, my advice is to not play with fire, one gets burned.

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I feel I was able to make peace with one of the other anonymous tweeters and I happily accept I was the cause in the break down of that peace, and I’m sure it’s my own fault that the peace between us remains fragile.  I tried making peace with another person that day but I was shouted down and not listened too.  But hey, I tried, and I’ll keep trying no matter how badly I receive other people’s actions, even knowing they won’t receive mine with any attempt at grace and they’ll keep dismissing my previous apologies.

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It sheds a lot of light on some, but we are duty bound to love and pray for them, even when they cannot forgive, it’s annoying, but so am I. div>