Anger

no dog was hurt in this picture, it's all for show

This will be positive, I promise.

"Never go to bed mad, stay up and fight"

Phyllis Diller

When something in our life gets out of balance or a lie becomes our truth, during our childhood, it is far more impacting than when we encounter such things later in life. If you start a journey and you are off in direction just slightly, by just a fraction of a degree, after many years, you will find yourself far off your intended and purposed course. It is like aiming a rifle at a target five feet away, 1 degree off means nothing, but if your target is 5 hundred yards away, you won't even come close. Later in life when we encounter a lie or find something out of balance we quickly sense we have gone off our familiar trail and we seek to make corrections.

When I was young, perhaps 12 or 13, I used to hear my parents and my older sisters yelling and screaming at each other. They would yell cruel words, make threats, and scream hateful things to each other. For some reason this really effected me. I would go into my room and close the door and just listen and feel my stomach turning. I ended up a teenager with bleeding ulcers over this. It effected my attitude toward anger for the rest of my life. I later realized that this behavior between parents and teenagers is not that unusual, and doesn't mean they don't love each other. But for me, my course in regards to expressing emotions now had it's heading; learn self-control and avoid showing emotions especially anger at all cost, you will just hurt others with your selfish outburst. Well there is plenty of good reason to stand firmly on this perspective. The Bible has plenty to say warning us about anger. "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing" (proverbs 12:18) "An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins." (proverbs 29:22) We don't need to look far to see the harm anger can bring. What is anger, but violence and cruelty, right? Actually what I am learning as I try to correct my imbalanced course, is that anger can also be good. Not only that, it is necessary to healthy living. I am learning that anger is just energy. Energy can be used either for good or bad. Like a revved up engine filled with horsepower waiting for our instruction. If we try to hold it all in, it is like holding the clutch on the floor and letting our engine just sit there racing- we will blow a piston sooner or later.

I am learning to welcome the energy from anger and use it in a responsible way. Getting mad at the pile of paper on my desk can make me finally do the filing I have been putting off.

Getting mad when you can't button your pants can be the motivating energy to get you to the gym. Getting mad when you lose a loved one can become the energy to show those remaining in your life how much you love them and appreciate them. It can also be the energy you need to find your God given purpose in life and get yourself busy pursuing that instead of the many endeavors of folly and foolishness that consume our time, before our time is up. Getting mad at those people in your life that you know are harmful to you, can give you the energy to finally put up boundaries in your life to protect yourself from those kind of people. I believe I could go on and on. Jesus got angry at the money changer in the temple who were fleecing those who came to worship Him and he turned over their tables. Learning to not feel guilty about being angry may be the hardest part for me. The key is knowing what is worthy of our anger and what to do when we are angry. I know that many people are challenged with trying to control their anger. But for me, I have to learn to allow anger into my life.

I think this quote from Martin Luther King puts it best;

I never work better than when I am inspired by anger; for when I am angry, I can write, pray, and preach well, for then my whole temperament is quickened, my understanding sharpened, and all mundane vexations and temptations depart.- Martin Luther

Please hit comment and share your thoughts-Thanks for taking the time to read this.