DAY 19
From the devotional book Beyond Words by Frederick Buechner
“OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back–in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.”
my reflection I have a disagreement with Buechner here. To my way of thinking, there is nothing at all fun about anger. Anger is the most negative of emotions. I fear being on the receiving end of it, but more than that, I fear dishing it out as well. I’ve seen anger modeled negatively by many people throughout my life. It’s only been relatively recently that I’ve come to know that anger, when perceived correctly, can act as a positive motivator. But Buechner is correct when he says the “skeleton of the feast is you”. I’ve heard revenge described as someone taking poison hoping someone else dies. I don’t think there are more corosive emotions than anger and revenge. When not controlled, they can eat you inside out. That is certainly something to avoid. But righteous anger can potentially be channeled to good purposes. The trick, of course, is to discern the difference between righteous anger and corosive anger. And that’s way more easily said than done.
- Our Weekend Getaway - January 22, 2024
- So Long, Mom, And Thanks For All The Spaghetti - November 10, 2023
- Thoughts On The Chogaffirm Petition - June 3, 2023
- Rhonda - June 3, 2023
- Beyond Words Day 23 - April 4, 2023
- Beyond Words Day 21 - April 1, 2023
- State Of The Household - January 9, 2023
- Book Review and Miscellany Thoughts - November 18, 2022
- Initial Thoughts On My Writing - September 13, 2022
- Beyond Words Day 19 - September 11, 2022
