It was so embarrassing sitting there with your friend listening to her crude and ridiculous comments. Why can't she just keep her mouth shut. She thinks these things are funny but she is the only one in the family who does. How would she like it if I did that when she brought a guest. That's it! When she brings a guest, I will pull the same nonsense and see how she likes it.
Can you believe that jerk next door. It has been three weeks since he borrowed the chain saw. You should know better than to let him borrow anything. Last time he borrowed your lawn mower then went on vacation not returning it until he got back. Your yard looked horrible. The neighbors probably thought you had been evicted. Next time he knocks at the door, just ignore it. You are nice enough to loan him things you have to help and be a good neighbor but he just doesn't care that you might need them while they are just laying on the floor of his garage. You know when you borrow something, you clean it and make it look better than when you got it. The thoughtless neighbor returns your stuff filthy, real nice of him.
Work! Why do I have to work anyhow? My boss is the biggest loser on the planet. He micro manages me and won't get off my back. Maybe he needs more work to do himself, he has enough free time to even clock my time in the bathroom. He is late on a regular basis and leaves early more than anyone at the office. However, he writes down every minute that I miss like I had just ripped of the Franklin Mint.
Why can't that stupid clerk just look up my receipt? I bought it there and even tried to return it in the same bag. I shop there all the time but not anymore. They better not hold their breath because I'll never be back. How stupid! Maybe they need to hire clerks with brains for a change! Maybe I'll go back and give that useless manager a piece of my mind!
I can't wait until my wife gets home. If she hadn't sent me out on those two annoying errands I could have seen the end of the Cavs game. She ruined my entire weekend. I don't know why she can't manage to get all the chores done during the week like a good wife does. I am so under appreciated! I work my butt off all week long. She has that easy little job that is no where near as stressful as mine. She could easily do errands on her way home from work so I could just relax once in a while. What the heck!
Life can get on our nerves at times. There will never be a time when everyone around us will live up to our expectations. At times it is hard enough to get through the day after being drained of all our brain cells and carbohydrates let alone deal with frustrations.
Angry? Sure you have a "right" to get angry. Anyone in your situation would. You are surely justified. You have been wronged, insulted, made to wait, been refused your demands. Shoot, you can't help but be angry, after all you aren't Ghandi.
First, is your anger expressing love? Love? Who even thinks about being loving when they are ticked? Well, maybe we should think about love when we are angry and out of control. Self control out of control, shows up as anger. Sure, things get annoying and sometimes we actually may be justified in our anger but does that mean we should let it take over?
Anger is not something that makes life better for anyone, yet we often hand the reins of our life over to anger and let it direct our path, speech and actions.
We are having a nice day, then bam, someone or something sets us off. We want revenge. We want them to suffer. We want them to be at least as miserable as we are. If we are upset and hurting then they should be too.
Oh boy, are they going to pay. They will never get any more help from us. They will get angry looks and be ignored forever. They will feel the misery of their mistakes. We will get into the car and ride the bumper of the car in front of us. They will pay too. They didn't use their turn signal! Just another rude jerk who needs to be taught a lesson.We take that bad attitude home and share it with everyone in the house. We manage to let that awful thing we had to endure wreck everyone else's day too. Now even the dog and cat tick you off. Can't they see how tired you are. All they ever want is a pet or food or some stupid thing.
Everything on TV stinks. Too many commercials, foolish politicians, too many charities wanting your money, can't you just be left alone.
You finally get to bed but now you can't sleep. It is all that jerk at works fault. He is even jerkier that you thought. You get maybe an hour of sleep, then the alarm goes off. Another lousy day! You are dreading seeing that person again today and the entire day is spent trying to avoid him. Another day ruined and another day that your family becomes part of your misery. Days go by, weeks go by and before you know it, you have managed to get rid of someone who used to be your friend. You have also managed to turn your family agianst him, even though they have no idea what is really going on.
Have you questioned your attitude at any time along the way? No, probably not. When anger sets in, all sanity takes a vacation. We don't think straight nor do we act right. We become Dr. Jerkyll. (Yes, I spelled it that way on purpose).
Anger is a hard taskmaster. It comes at a very high price and it consumes everything around us like an out of control fire.
Jesus once said that the people He was talking to had heard it said that they were to hate their enemies. But Jesus said, "No, love your enemies."
When we love our enemies, we are showing the love of Christ in our lives. There is a benefit as well; we don't run around wasting our days and ruining other people's days either.
Psalm 37:8 NLT states, "Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! It only leads to harm." Isn't that true? What good comes from our anger? Can you honestly think of anything? Are sleepless nights, uncomfortable situations, stomachaches, headaches or any such things good?
Ecclesiastes 7:9 states, "Control your temper, for anger labels you a fool." When we rant and rave, do people think the best of us? Actually, are we exhibiting our best? When we rumble around talking about how awful so and so was, can we imagine that anyone sees us as anything more than a fool?
Last, Ephesians 4:26 states, "And don't sin by letting anger control you. Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil." Great advice there, right? According to the Bible letting anger control you leads to sin. Did you realize that? When you let anger control you, it leads you into many bad thoughts, words, and actions that are sin. If you let sin go on and on, you open the door to the devil whispering more and more hateful things. Giving him that foothold can take you to a point beyond what you ever intended, like losing a good friend. The Bible gives us some advice knowing that it is in our DNA to get angry, however, it offers a time limit - sundown. Be mad if you have to, be angry if you have to, although it is better not to. But if you must, don't let it go past sundown.
Let me step into my old west mindset. Okay pardner, when anger gets the best of you, you need to call it out onto main street. You need to have an anger showdown at sundown. Be quick on the draw by remembering these scriptures and you will shoot anger dead!
On the other hand if you are wronged and you can let it go and still act in a loving manner, you will glorify your Father in heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ.
So pardner, get tough and let anger pass you by. Loving may be harder to accomplish than anger at times, but the result of taking that road will bless you and all around you.