James 1: 19, 20
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."Many people find themselves unable to cope with even minor
frustration. They get angry over trivial things, such as a broken pencil lead
or overcooked hamburger. Their anger erupts and gets out of control. They feel
as though they are constantly under attack, that everyone is out to get them,
and that nobody understands or cares about them. This feeling of having no
control leads to a state of continual frustration and anger...This tendency to
react with instant anger can be called rage. Rage is anger that never
completely goes away." Michael Mccartney
As I have mentioned before, there are a
few tenants in this complex who have dementia or suffered from a stroke. They
can often be unpredictable, flying into angry outbursts without warning or even
apparent cause. By the time staff reach the tenant there is sometimes another
person in floods of tears because they have been the innocent focus of the
anger. This anger cannot be helped because it comes from someone who is not
conscious of their actions.
However, there is another who has
suffered a stroke but is entirely aware of his anger and is a bad loser. The
result is that if he does not get what he wants from the menu he ‘throws a fit’
and pushes items from the table. He needs easily swallowed food because of a
choking hazard,
it is understandable that he wants things that he likes but nobody can convince
him, and he takes it out on the carer he has that day or on the staff. He knows
it is not acceptable and after an episode he sits and laughs.
A couple of days ago he was given one of
the biscuits he likes but in temper he threw it at a member of staff who lifted
it and took it away. He was stunned and started yelling at her but soon
realised she was ignoring him, even with impaired speech we knew what he was
calling her. He did not get his biscuit back, but he eventually apologised and
was settled for the rest of the day. We await the next instalment in his story.
We all have those moments when something
or someone angers us, we are told of righteous anger but even that must be
controlled. It is when our anger gets out of control and becomes a rage that
makes us forget what we were angry about and just allow the rage to grow. Perhaps righteous anger is called for in the world of
today, and I think God is just waiting for the
right time to act against those who mock His word.
Jesus told His disciples to go out and
make other disciples, we should still be working to make this happen. Nobody
will come to Jesus if they are not told about Him and His wonderful sacrifice
on the cross. He carried our sins to pay our debt of sin so did not have to
pay. Is it really too much for us to do to invite
others into His fold? It is a small price for us to pay for eternal life
through the blood of Jesus.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, Your
death and resurrection is recorded in the Gospels.
Help us to read them with more understanding, to realise how much we owe You.
We know You do not look at it like that but
sometimes we should be reawakened to the truths of these things. We are human
and You know from experience how easily we can be sidetracked,
we need to be aware of our own weaknesses to try to fight them, but we need
Your help and that of the Holy Spirit to realise what we must do. We ask in the
name of Father, Son and Spirit. Amen
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