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| Cereal crops near Wendens Ambo Views across cereal crops on farmland near Wendens Ambo. Some angry-looking storm clouds on the horizon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
Psalm 37:8
New International Version (NIV)
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
James 1:19-20
This past week I have felt sick. Not from any germ, virus, or anything that could be physically diagnosed, but I have been sick in my emotions and in my mind. I have been functioning, but in a run-down and discouraged manner. I have been tired and distraught.
The incident caught me totally unaware, like being hit unexpectedly by a truck. I was left dazed and bewildered by a verbal attack that literally seemed to come from nowhere. I had done nothing to provoke the incident. Anger was incited as the result of a figment of someone else's imagination.
Unlike the anger I might have felt from an encounter with a stranger, my anger and that of the loved one who attacked me gnawed at me from the inside, left me shaken, and stayed with me for several days. The impact of the incident will now stay with me for a long time.
For the most part keeping my restraint I tried to defend myself against the ugly words that were hurled my way. False accusations and irrational fabrications were inveighed against me. This person who is very close to me unleashed things that had apparently been brewing and stewing from within for quite some time, catching me entirely off guard.
Ironically the whole mess could have been easily straightened out if only calmness and reasoning had prevailed. I was able to answer the charges against me, but the verdict had been decided before I could even speak. The anger was in the air and flaming in the heart of another and I was the whipping boy.
That evening things were brought to a calmer state, but the hurt has lingered for me. Sometimes anger leads us to do and say things that we should not. Anger leads us to sin. Anger makes us sick. I try to keep the peace, but war only breaks out when at least one side wants to shatter that peace.
The incident caught me totally unaware, like being hit unexpectedly by a truck. I was left dazed and bewildered by a verbal attack that literally seemed to come from nowhere. I had done nothing to provoke the incident. Anger was incited as the result of a figment of someone else's imagination.
Unlike the anger I might have felt from an encounter with a stranger, my anger and that of the loved one who attacked me gnawed at me from the inside, left me shaken, and stayed with me for several days. The impact of the incident will now stay with me for a long time.
For the most part keeping my restraint I tried to defend myself against the ugly words that were hurled my way. False accusations and irrational fabrications were inveighed against me. This person who is very close to me unleashed things that had apparently been brewing and stewing from within for quite some time, catching me entirely off guard.
Ironically the whole mess could have been easily straightened out if only calmness and reasoning had prevailed. I was able to answer the charges against me, but the verdict had been decided before I could even speak. The anger was in the air and flaming in the heart of another and I was the whipping boy.
That evening things were brought to a calmer state, but the hurt has lingered for me. Sometimes anger leads us to do and say things that we should not. Anger leads us to sin. Anger makes us sick. I try to keep the peace, but war only breaks out when at least one side wants to shatter that peace.
James 1:19-20
New International Version (NIV)
