The Gifts of Anger

We continue to tend to our anger this week. Yesterday we took some time to look inside at how our anger may be a smokescreen our shadow selves use to cover our shame. Today, we look at the gifts of anger.

Arise, Lord, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies. Awake, my God; decree justice. - Psalm 7:6

Can you think of a time when your anger drove you to do something that needed doing, to right a wrong that had gone uncorrected, or to stand courageously against some evil in the world? These are the gifts of anger. For one, if we pay careful attention to our anger it may be trying to tell us something is wrong. If we don’t just immediately blow our top but actually consider our anger, it’s often a signal trying to help us see something we might not otherwise have seen. And then, this healthy anger gives us the motivation and the power to act, sometimes even in the face of great resistance. This is why Kaitlin Curtis writes that “Anger and hope are colaborers” - because anger at what is wrong and hope for what is right are great partners in getting us out on the streets to change things!

What are the situations in your small world - things affecting your friends and the neighbors on your block - that make you angry? How about in the big world of nations and politics and laws? Spend some time right now tending to your anger. And you may want to pray the prayer of David at the beginning of this devotional.