Why do I snap at the people I love most?

Home is supposed to be the safe place. But sometimes it is the place where the worst of us comes out. The short reply, the sharp tone, the eye-roll you wish you could take back. It does not mean you are a bad parent or a bad spouse. It means you are a tired human carrying more than you have said out loud. God already knows what is underneath the sharpness, and He is not standing over you with a list. He is standing next to you with this:

"A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger."

- Proverbs 15:1 (KJV)

Before you walk through your front door tonight, sit in the car for sixty seconds. Breathe. Ask God quietly to give you a soft word for the first person who speaks to you. Just one soft word. That is enough to change the temperature of the whole evening.

What is one thing you are carrying today that you have not told anyone, not even God?

Lord, the harshness that comes out of me is not who I want to be. Heal what is underneath it. Give me a soft answer today, at home, where it matters most. Amen.