Proverbs 12:¹⁶ Fools show their anger at once, but the prudent ignore an insult. 

I was recently watching a movie called “A Man Called Otto” starring Tom Hanks (currently streaming on Netflix). In the movie he plays a man who is in the midst of deep personal grief and expresses his grief via an angry, harsh countenance. He is insulting and grumpy to just about everyone. However he then meets a couple who move in across the street. What fascinates me is how the couple refuse to respond to Otto’s insulting manner, continue to reach out to him, and get to know him. Otto’s defenses are eventually breached and a touching relationship emerges.

I write all of this because there are times when I find it difficult to do what I saw in the movie, and what I read in this verse from the book of Proverbs. I have a hard time looking past insults and anger. I realize the movie is a work of fiction, but I have known people like this in real life. They refuse to get angry or match a person’s prickly disposition. I am always in awe when I see it. This morning I’m asking the Lord to help me “ignore an insult”. I would be much better for it. Lord let it be so. Amen.