A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | Z

Sermon Illustrations: Emotions

Emotions are so unpredictable, they are not a great thing to base your life on. When we left the UK to go to Australia, we had to leave our goldfish behind. Every week, my grandmother would run a bath and let it go for a swim. One of these times, she ran the bath and put the goldfish in and it went nuts, splashing around and jumping out of the water. She couldn't stop laughing. She called my grandfather, "Bob, come and have a look at this silly goldfish." He ran in and had a look and said something like, "Of course he's jumping in and out of the water you silly woman. You've run the hot water." That's when she started to cry.

When you go into a shopping centre, and you have to find a shop, you look for one of those maps. And the first thing you look for is the part that says, "You are here". When you've found that, you can use the map to get to where you want to be. Your emotions are the same. They tell you where you are. Depression says, "You are here". Joy tells you, "You are here". And now you know exactly where you are, the road map says, "Get into God's Word."

There is some evidence to suggest that if you assume a smile then your physiology follows and you become happier and less able to be angry.1

Allowing emotions to rob us of opportunities to encourage: A famous singer was to perform at the Grand Opera House. The concert hall was packed. Suddenly the house manager announced, "Ladies and gentlemen I regret that due to illness our special guest will be unable to perform this evening. But we've found another singer, an equally great talent, so would you please give her a warm welcome." The crowd groaned so loudly that nobody even heard the singer's name. You could feel the disappointment everywhere. The stand-in singer gave it everything she had, but when it was over all she got was brief scattered applause followed by uncomfortable silence. Suddenly in the balcony a child stood up and shouted, "Mommy, I think you're wonderful!" Realising what had happened, the crowd jumped to their feet and gave her a standing ovation that lasted for several minutes. Word for Today 9-1-08

When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion. Dale Carnegie

1 De Bono, Edward Six Thinking Hats p 18