Message Theme: Anger - Does it control you or do you control it?
I would assume that most of us have had a great deal of experience in dealing with anger. Anger, as we all know, is something that stems from an event or circumstance that often does not result in our favor. We tend to associate anger with unpredictable characteristics such as aggression, foul words, compromised judgement, heightened physical tendencies and any form of emotion that we deem necessary to rectify a given circumstance. We all have different areas in our lives that make us become angry. What may be a big deal to one person may be a very minor deal to someone else. I will use one of my personal issues for an example:
I am a very punctual individual. Especially when it comes to my free time! My very favorite time of the year is the months leading up to the Summer and the activities that are a part of my life during this specific time. My wife and I share a love for the hobby of water sports as we have a few lake toys that we exploit during the warmer months of the year. One thing that we cherrish about our hobby is our desire to share it with other people. We always invite friends and family to the lake with us as it makes the experience that much more enjoyable. Well, and unfortunately, I have a tendency to expect those to which we invite to be as punctual as I am. For whatever reason, I feel that it's both an illustration of respect and common courtesy for others to be on time, just as I would be for them. Well, that hardly ever happens and it makes me very furious. When I ask myself "Why?", it's because I feel as if I'm being cheated of my free time. While this may seem very minute to some, it's scales on a level of mass proportions to me.
Well, that was me as of last year. The new me this year, however, is much more sensitive to the issue (or what was once an issue). You see, how is it okay for me to expect perfection out of others when I'm no where near perfect myself? Am I that powerful of a person? (Absolutely not!) Which leads me to a few points pertaining to anger:
1. Anger does not define your character or your heart. Anger defines your passion and your priorities. People are NOT angry by default nor is anger established in the heart at birth. People become angry when their passion and their priorities become violated in ways that are not in their interest. In my example, my spare time (which I highly value) was being violated, therefore, I was angered by it.
2. Even though anger does not define your character or your heart, it does indeed challenge who you are as a person. Anger is the beginning point of a potential series of events that tailors your mind, your body, your relationships, your spirit and your soul. Allowing anger to control your life can develop into behavioral patterns that can in fact manipulate who you are as a person and what your about.
3. And finally, anger is redemptive. No one likes to be angry. Becoming angry is the beginning point, or a sign, of something to come. We can either address it, learn from it and then become stronger because of it. Or, we can allow it to escalate into who we are as people moving forward. We see and read about events where people allow their anger to go above and beyond their own control which can in fact effect the lives of others (Virvigina Tech being a good example).
It is not unhealthy to become angry for whatever reason. What is unhealthy about anger, though, is allowing your anger to jeopardize who you are as a person. The next time you should find yourself becoming angry, I encourage you to revisit the root of your anger and then ask yourself the following questions:
Is the frustration that I'm experiencing worthy of the cause?
Is whatever I'm angry about worth dying for internally?
How is my anger affecting those around me?
If you have read this message, I encourage you to post an example of something that angers you that you're not happy about. If you'd rather not post your example within this thread, I encourage you to PM me about it. I will not announce your name or your situation publicly. The primary goal of this post is to bring light to the subject of anger in an attempt to enable you to rectify what might be wei***ng you down at this time.
Grace and Peace,
Mavsluva
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Originally Posted by kroshamwindsong
