impatience Archives - Diana Derringer

Bite Someone’s Head Off

September 2, 2024 Diana Derringer Comments 8 comments

When we see a tiger or other wild animal open its mouth and hear it roar, we may fear it will bite someone’s head off. When we open our mouths while angry, other people may expect us to bite their heads off.

To bite someone’s head off means to react in anger.

We have a bad day, so we take it out on the people around us. They may have no idea why we react as we do, since they did nothing to provoke us.

Other times, people may irritate us with what we consider inappropriate behavior.

Either way, we act or react with:

Rage
Force
Impatience

A similar expression is to snap someone’s head off.

Both mean to scold or speak in a mean manner. If we are mad at the world, whoever comes our way suffers.

Our response to others matters.

Once we speak words, we can’t take them back. We can apologize, but the harm remains.

We all have bad days.

However, we decide whether we will do the best we can or make life miserable for everyone we encounter. Remember, we catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Will we spread:

Health or harm?
Love or hate?
Encouragement or despair?

Let’s not allow bad days to control us. Rather, let’s bite our tongues and treat others as we want to be treated.

“They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim cruel words like deadly arrows. (Psalm 64:3 NIV).

Thanks to Katherine Pasour for the suggestion. Photo by shravan khare on Pexels.

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Fiddlesticks

June 19, 2023 Diana Derringer Comments 12 comments

Fiddlesticks often flies from my mouth. Not the actual bows used to play fiddles, but an expression of frustration. I say it when I:

Forget an important item or event.
Drop what I’m carrying.
Believe something is foolish.

Fiddlesticks expresses frustration or impatience.

It also means to be annoyed or to think something makes no sense. The situation or statement sounds or looks like garbage.

Fiddlesticks moments can change into creative ones.

We can turn our frustration or impatience into opportunity. If we don’t like the way things are, we do something about it. When we don’t have the resources we want, we use the resources we have.

For example, another little-known form of fiddlesticks exists. According to The Creole State Exhibit of Louisiana’s Living Traditions, fiddlesticks were “a traditional way of adding percussion…. As one person played the fiddle, another tapped out a rhythm on the strings.”

Wikipedia explains that the second person used “a pair of straws, sticks, or knitting needles to tap out a rhythm on the strings over the upper fingerboard (between the bow and the fiddler’s fingering hand).”

By using their existing resources, they added variety to their music.

We choose: Remain upset or adjust our circumstances.

Like the makers of the rhythmic fiddlesticks, we may have to make do with what we have. Yet, who knows what a difference we can make until we try?

“O my soul, don’t be discouraged. Don’t be upset. Expect God to act! For I know that I shall again have plenty of reason to praise him for all that he will do. He is my help! He is my God!” (Psalm 42:11 TLB).

Thanks to Laurel Blevins and Karen Hart for the suggestion. Image by Iryna Bakurskaya from Pixabay.

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Jump the Gun

November 21, 2022 Diana Derringer Comments 6 comments

In the past, a gun fired as a signal to start many sports contests. Runners occasionally became so excited, they would jump the gun. They started running before their races began.

To jump the gun means to begin before the right time.

Like athletes, we occasionally jump the gun in life. We act too quickly.

Rather than wait until everything is ready, we start too soon. Our actions are not:

Appropriate
Wise
Approved

Patience is hard to practice.

Yet, we need it. Instead of getting in too big a hurry, we want to toe the mark. Better to follow the guidelines than ruin our chances of getting where we want to go.

When tempted to bypass the rules, let’s hold our horses.

Plan to go when it’s time to go but wait when it’s time to wait.

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14 NIV).

Thanks to Melissa Bright for the suggestion. Image by Vlad Vasnetsov from Pixabay.

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Chomp at the Bit

January 18, 2021 Diana Derringer Comments 6 comments

Chomp at the Bit-Horse with bridle and bit Our family had horses when I was a teenager. I loved to ride, but my sister preferred to keep both feet on the ground. She did not trust horses, especially when they chomped at the bit.

Like many horses, ours wanted to go immediately, and they wanted to go fast. That was especially true when they saw water or food ahead.

A cousin convinced my sister to ride with him one afternoon. The closer they came to the end of their trip, the faster the horse ran. When they went under an apple tree branch, our cousin lowered his head. Gail did not see the branch, and it knocked her to the ground. That was the end of her horseback riding.

To chomp at the bit refers to a horse biting its bit (mouthpiece).

According to The Phrase Finder, the original phrase was champ at the bit. Both chomp and champ refer to biting or chewing. Excited horses chomp at the bit before a race begins. They have a hard time waiting.

People also chomp at the bit.

We may not have a piece of metal in our mouths. However, we definitely get impatient. Few of us enjoy delay. We want everything immediately, if not sooner.

Babies want to be fed.
Children want to play.
Teenagers want to drive.
Adults want good jobs.
Almost everyone wants love and acceptance.

We want what we want when we want it.

Like bits guide horses, wisdom guides people.

Yet, we need to find trustworthy sources for truth. Let’s never chomp at the bit until we know we are:

Following the right source.
Going the right direction

Until then, let’s hold our horses.

“Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you” (Psalm 32:9 NIV).

Thanks to Tracy Crump for the suggestion. Image by Ainslie Gilles-Patel from Pixabay.

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