My husband and I have a small side photography business. Last weekend, I had the privilege of shooting the wedding of one of my life-long friends. It was an incredible ceremony and I was so filled with joy for her and her new husband. After arriving back home, I got on the computer to check social media and my daily blog stats. My site was down. It took about 45 seconds for the happiness I had been feeling for my friend and the relaxed mood that came from having a day away with my husband to vanish. I went from zero to angry in less than a minute, and that anger continued to boil over the next 2 days as I waited for my server to restore my site.

Two days gone. Yes, I lost page views, advertising opportunities, readers, pins, etc. More importantly, I lost two days of my life…..two days with my family….opportunities to make memories, to laugh with my babies, to draw closer to my husband, to deepen my walk with God….

Anger overrides everything else. Anger doesn’t coexist with any other emotion. Anger takes over, invading our hearts, minds, and actions with brute strength. You see, anger is a powerful force – a veritable hurricane of an emotion, leveling anything and everything in its wake.

When we allow anger to take over, it not only levels our emotions, it robs us – as anger is a most-crafty thief. Anger steals…

our joy

our children’s security and stability

our control

opportunties

relationships

our legacy

our example

I love what Ecclesiastes 7:9 has to say about anger. “Don’t be quick to fly off the handle. Anger boomerangs.”

Anger boomerangs. Think about that for a minute. Our anger always comes back to get us. Nobody wins when we’re angry, because anger is not a solution. Anger accomplishes nothing – nothing we want it to anyways. Being angry didn’t restore my website. It didn’t make the man behind the curtain work any faster. My down site was out of my control. The thing is, most of what we become angry about is. We can’t control what other people do or say. We can’t control wait time, accidents, and the mistakes of others. It’s fitting that things we have no control over cause us to lose total control – especially when control is really what we’re seeking in the first place.

“As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.” ~Emmanuel Teney

When we learn to relinquish our need for control, we’ll begin to replace anger with peace and frustration with acceptance. Think about your anger trigger points and contemplate whether or not it is a control issue or a righteous anger issue. If you cannot control what you are angry about, let it go. Don’t allow anger to steal from you or dominate your life.

Anger is a boomerang, but so is peace.

 

*featured image courtesy of oprah.com