Have a friend in Edmonton, Alberta, who operates a charming little jewelery business called Lilac Lane (check out her page on Facebook). Her summer collection featured a little necklace with a pendant inscribed “Keep Calm and Carry On.” This motto, utilized by the British government in 1939 to raise morale during WWII, is beginning to be a creed of mine. (I had to have the necklace, and it arrived in the mail today – hence this post.)
Think about how our society glorifies “drama queens” and “divas.” The paraphernalia inscribed with those titles could (and should) fill more than one landfill. Since when have we been taught that it is womanly to overreact and whine and pitch fits when things don’t go the way we want them?
What about when we’re not having tantrums over things not going our way, but just being bowled over by life? Have you seen someone get completely carried away into drama over something that is not even happening to them? I’m not talking about compassion or empathy here – I’m talking about histrionics – deliberate displays of emotion simply to draw attention to oneself . It is SOOO unbecoming!
This saying reminds me of the disciples’ drama over the tempest that blew up on the Sea of Galilee while Jesus was asleep. Matthew 8:25 says,
“And his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.” When I read about Jesus and the disciples, it seems like they were often fretting about something – who was going to be the greatest, who healed whom, how the money should be spent, or the fact that Jesus was surrounded by children or unsavory women…and Jesus spent a great portion of his time calming them and the other people around him.
How can we say we have Him with us, while acting all the while as though He is not?
Now, I realize that some people are more easily overwhelmed than others, and that everyone has different coping skills. That’s fine. I understand that. Nor am I professing that I never struggle to be calm. (Why else do you think I bought the necklace! I need the reminder, too!) But when drama over an issue totally eclipses coping and surrendering it by faith to the Lord we claim to trust, we have a problem. It is neither womanly nor dignified. A childish lack of coping skills are what I expect from children, not women who have been through a few things and claim to walk with the Lord. The drama does not become you, ladies. You bring only negative attention to yourself and shame to your testimony. Please, keep calm and carry on!
On the Other Hand.... 