When people go through a tough time in life, they sometimes lash out at the people they care about most.

After a hard day, in a period of anxious uncertainty, or during a year of gut-wrenching decision-making, we can blame, shame or yell at the people in our own boat—after all, they’re the ones close enough to be in the line of fire at day’s end.

But just because someone is beside you in the storms of life, that doesn’t mean they’re to blame.

None of us are perfect. And sure, we all have things we need to work on. But consider what Paul says in Romans 12:10: “Honor one another above yourselves.” To honour someone is to respect them, to acknowledge their value and contribution. The same goes for those we love, even when we don’t feel like being loving.

When people go through a tough time in life, they sometimes lash out at the people they care about most, people in their own ship, so to speak. But is it wise to do battle with members of your own crew?

As Thomas More wisely said more than 500 years ago, “Don’t give up the ship in a storm because you cannot direct the winds.”*

“Honor one another above yourselves.”

By Matthew Ruttan

–“Up!” is published 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and returns on November 11.
–Bible quotes are from the NIV.
–*Thomas More, Utopia, ed. G.M. Logan, trans. R. M. Adams (W.W. Norton and Company, 1975), 36.