A Stiff Upper Lip

Have you heard of the British saying, “𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗳 𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗽?”   In other words – don’t show any emotion whatsoever, no matter what you may face, remain stoic and endure your circumstances in a circumspect manner!  Not an easy task, especially when you’re seven!  My Mum and Dad are both British and maintaining a stiff upper lip was important, in fact my Dad would go to church on a Sunday as it was good self-discipline! Looking back, I can see it was their way of handling living through the hard war days in which I grew up without totally falling apart.

In 1982 British Airways flight 009 was on its way to Jakarta when all four of its engines failed.  In true British fashion the Captain didn’t panic but made a short announcement while navigating the flight during life threatening circumstances.  This announcement was described as a ‘masterpiece of understatement!’  “𝘓𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴.”

I chuckled as I tried to read this in my best english accent and imagined the stiff upper lip of Captain Eric Moody.  How very British!  The stoic and calm nature of the captain enabled him to land this compromised flight successfully with no loss of life.

Growing up this way caused me to believe that our Abba Father was the same, stoic, intellectual with that stiff upper lip.  Does God really feel a wide range of emotions?  I love this passage in Judges 10:16; “𝑺𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒏 𝒈𝒐𝒅𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒔𝒓𝒂𝒆𝒍.”  God could no longer endure the misery, he couldn’t bear it, grew tired, and was impatient.  His very soul was grieved.  No stiff upper lip here.  𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗼𝗱.

As I meditated on this scripture I realized just how much my sins, even the little ones, grieve the heart of God.  How my bad reactions to circumstances, and lack of obedience cause my Savior’s heart to ache.  𝙂𝙤𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧-𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙, 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚!  𝙊𝙪𝙧 𝙁𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙂𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙚𝙨, 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙞𝙘 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙘𝙞𝙧𝙘𝙪𝙢𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨. 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚.  𝙇𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙙.

The fact that my Abba Father is a God of emotions causes the little child within me to dance and rejoice, I pray that it does that for you too!