2594) One of the most difficult skills I tried to help my young scholars develop was self-control. I think it’s difficult for several reasons, and one of them is that many believe it’s just an instinct.

Something happens, and then, instinct kicks in, and they act or don’t., believing there’s no mindful control available. As adults, you and I know this isn’t so, but I wonder if some of us have carried the youthful idea of self-control being an instinctive action.

Proverbs 25:28 reminds us that not wielding self-control can cause substantial damage, likened to the weakness of an ancient city with broken walls.

Yes, reactions happen quickly, and yet we can start noticing what our body feels like when our self-control meter is being pushed. As we get acquainted with this inward reaction, we can learn to tap the brakes when we’d like to explode, put in one more word in a ridiculous argument, or while driving in traffic. Self-control should not be extinct. We can make sure it doesn’t.