I'm sitting here listening to Whitney Houston and wondering if I want to watch the Olympic coverage. Then again, I'm a writer, and writers write. It's the middle of the day. So here we are.
I wanted to talk about anger today. Being a man, I have lots of opportunities to think about it. We're used to offering the stock evangelical trope about anger: "Well, Jesus got angry, so there's non-sinful anger!" And then, that's it. I don't recall a discussion that went past this, ever. I'm just being honest. I was some kind of Reformed evangelical for 13 years. I've been Catholic for just a shade over a year. I'd probably qualify as a Catholic evangelical if that was anything other than a nonsense phrase. But I am looking forward to thinking more deeply about it.
The way to make me really angry is not to listen. I get angry when I'm not being heard. I get angry at injustice in general. I get angry when people don't say what they mean. Willful stupidity makes me mad, too. Generally speaking, I've had to do very little apologizing for these kinds of anger.
But all of us get frustrated at times. I'm bad about being rude when I'm really hungry. This almost never happens, but it does happen sometimes. These little things, little annoyances, are the proof to me of my need for growth and God's grace. Not the big things. I may come back and apologize for raising my voice or leaving someone with a doubt in a tense exchange about whether I love them. But if I get that angry, there's something really wrong, and I like to think it wasn't on my end. If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong about that.
But I've been spitting, screaming, swearing mad a few times. And I think that when anger gets here, it's dangerous. It's sinful. You forget the good you've had with that person; you forget that he is a person. Don't get here; you're beyond reason. You're not able to control the words you say. If you get here too many times with the same person--absent some serious grace and healing--it does harm that might never be fixed.
I'm certainly not speaking from acute experience in saying all this; it just seemed good to say. I was talking to Dr. Hebrew Catholic Woody Allen about some matter unrelated to me, and he said that one of the first rules of wisdom is, "Never make a major decision while you're angry." I see the goodness in that.
I hope that all of you out there have never done anything like that. The heat of the moment is a really bad time to do things that have far-reaching consequences. Love and peace to all of you today.
I wanted to talk about anger today. Being a man, I have lots of opportunities to think about it. We're used to offering the stock evangelical trope about anger: "Well, Jesus got angry, so there's non-sinful anger!" And then, that's it. I don't recall a discussion that went past this, ever. I'm just being honest. I was some kind of Reformed evangelical for 13 years. I've been Catholic for just a shade over a year. I'd probably qualify as a Catholic evangelical if that was anything other than a nonsense phrase. But I am looking forward to thinking more deeply about it.
The way to make me really angry is not to listen. I get angry when I'm not being heard. I get angry at injustice in general. I get angry when people don't say what they mean. Willful stupidity makes me mad, too. Generally speaking, I've had to do very little apologizing for these kinds of anger.
But all of us get frustrated at times. I'm bad about being rude when I'm really hungry. This almost never happens, but it does happen sometimes. These little things, little annoyances, are the proof to me of my need for growth and God's grace. Not the big things. I may come back and apologize for raising my voice or leaving someone with a doubt in a tense exchange about whether I love them. But if I get that angry, there's something really wrong, and I like to think it wasn't on my end. If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong about that.
But I've been spitting, screaming, swearing mad a few times. And I think that when anger gets here, it's dangerous. It's sinful. You forget the good you've had with that person; you forget that he is a person. Don't get here; you're beyond reason. You're not able to control the words you say. If you get here too many times with the same person--absent some serious grace and healing--it does harm that might never be fixed.
I'm certainly not speaking from acute experience in saying all this; it just seemed good to say. I was talking to Dr. Hebrew Catholic Woody Allen about some matter unrelated to me, and he said that one of the first rules of wisdom is, "Never make a major decision while you're angry." I see the goodness in that.
I hope that all of you out there have never done anything like that. The heat of the moment is a really bad time to do things that have far-reaching consequences. Love and peace to all of you today.
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