Anger

Anger. It’s an emotion that we all deal with from time to time. It’s a nasty emotion, and do you ever notice that rage seems to want to stick around? You find something to be angry about, then soon enough, you find even more reasons to stay in that emotional state.

Anger is such a powerful and can often be destructive emotion. And who even wants to be angry? I don’t. But yet, I find myself getting upset about even the smallest things. I even find anger can rear it’s ugly head when I’m practicing yoga. All is going well, then tension caused by anger is released and boom. There it is. Whenever that happens, it does not make for a pleasant practice. But it’s there for a reason. For me, sometimes, often times, it’s due to stress. Financial stress mainly. There are times when I feel so stressed that I feel it physically in my chest and in between my sounder blades. Do you ever feel the stress physically in your body? Next time you feel stressed, scan your body to see if you notice anything, any tension that you’re holding. You may be surprised at what you find.

So what should we do with this anger? Acknowledge the feeling and that it is valid. Submit it to Christ. And question it. Question where it originated from, why did you feel that way, is the anger being unjustly directed towards someone, etc. Really think about it, do some deep self evaluation. Why are you angry? And why so easily? It may take some time to figure out the reason behind the anger. It may be stress from finances, trauma, depression as a result of loss, etc. Pray and dig deep. Ask God to show you what you need to surrender and ask the Holy Spirit to help you do it. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you how to react when emotions are high, to teach you to not say something that could damage your relationships or that would cut into someone. When handled improperly, anger is like a hurricane, damaging anything and everything in it’s path. When I look back at how I’ve handled anger, I’m ashamed. Not to mention, when we get angry with someone and say something hurtful, that individual may have that ingrained in their memory permanently, potentially impacting them for the rest of their lives. You think I’m over exaggerating don’t you? I’m not. Let me give you an example. My mom passed away when I was 19 and the last vivid memory I have of her, she was screaming at me “Back off, bitch”. Later, she apologized. But that is still the last clear memory I have of her. I know she loved me, but that memory still stings when I think about it. That brings me to another point, you never know if what you said in anger is the last thing you ever say to that person. No one is promised tomorrow. The Bible says in the book of James

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;”
‭‭James‬ ‭1:19‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Anger is a difficult emotion and some of us, me included, weren’t taught how to handle such an intense emotion. Growing up, anger was displayed as throwing things, walking out, slamming doors and drawers, and yelling. There were even times when I relate those past experiences to a belt. Some of you may identify with a portion, if not all, of what I have just described. But what if we looked past the initial anger to find out the true reason behind it? I’m not the first person to bring this idea to light. However, this is an issue that needs to be brought up time after time. If you’r grieving, that may be the cause of your anger. I remember it was for me. After I lost my mom, I really struggled with it. The only one I could truly grieve around was my boyfriend (now my husband) and he got the brunt of my anger. It was not pretty. It got to the point where I felt I had to seek counseling from my pastor.

The next time you find yourself angry, I pray you stop, sit with your anger a moment to see if you can determine it’s root, and pray before doing or saying something you’re going to regret later.