“Twist cap to vent.” Have you ever given those instructions much thought? It took on a different meaning for me this past weekend. I was doing laundry, when there it was on the container – twist cap to vent. Normally this would have had absolutely no significance to me other than preventing me from making a terrible mess. What you need to understand are the events that occurred pre-laundry. There had been a (ahem) not-so-spiritual conversation between my husband & I. Now let me clarify; it was a tiff. A tiff with “an edge.” Okay, a tiff with a double-edge. And when I read those simple instructions I thought, “I’d like to twist his cap!” Now you & I know that just wasn’t necessary and immediately I recognized this was probably not something the Proverbs 31 woman would say. Before I knew it I was finding humor in the whole ordeal. Oh not the tiff – I still wanted to twist his cap, but I found it hilarious that God is even found in the laundry! He really does crack me up sometimes. But I began thinking about how God wanted me to vent. Even in my tiffs, I desire for God to be proud of me. During the unfolding of events I had stopped mid-tiff and asked God for direction. But then after He spoke to me through the laundry, I went to His word. Ephesians 4:26 tells us to not sin when we are angry and to be sure and stop being angry before the end of the day. But then look at verse 27, “Do not give the devil a way to defeat you.” Wow. Satan has power over me when I allow him to. He looks for it, he finds it, and I am completely powerless to defeat him alone. James 1:19-20 tells us to “always be willing to listen and slow to speak. Do not become angry easily, because anger will not help you live the right kind of life God wants.” So just in these snapshots of scripture we see when our anger is not properly vented, Satan has a stronghold and it will not be possible for us to experience all God wants for us. The beauty of God is He knows us – He knows we will be provoked to anger and we will do some of our own provoking as well – yet even still He wraps His arms around us and gently leads us to the place we’re supposed to be. So the next time you are angry and tempted to twist cap to vent make sure that cap unlocks the wisdom of God through His word. Just stand in His presence as He invites you to try again. You’re only other option is to change laundry detergent – but the instructions remain the same.

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