Anger is Danger

So I'm a little angry. SOMEONE is ticking me off, because SOMEONE refuses to communicate with me, and I have no idea what is going on with SOMEONE. (Someone, who shall, of course, remain nameless. Calling people out, especially in blog world, is just plain rude.)

So anyway, adding to my anger are a myriad of other small things, but I realize that when a lot of little things cause slight anger at the same time... It makes your anger get bigger. I secretly get mad in band because people don't want to work. They want to be great and win lots of prizes when we go to contest, but they don't want to put in the work now, and it's irritating. Some of us really love band and want to be there. Some of us work our tails off every time we step onto the field. Some of us get passionate when we see lazy people just moaning around on the field because they're "tired' or their "arms hurt." Well I have some words of encouragement for you: Get over it.

Then when we go inside to play I get mad because it's like people went home and forgot everything we worked on in the music the day before. Really people, retain knowledge. It's not that hard. Then I get a little more mad because people can't stinking count and keep time, so we get to play with Dr. Beat the whole time. For those of you who don't know who Dr. Beat it... Count your lucky stars.

Anyway, thinking about all this anger affecting me made me think about our children's Bible Hour at my church. My brother and I, every week at Bible Hour, put on a puppet show for the kiddos, and lately we've been talking about the Sermon on the Mount. Last week's particular lesson was about when Jesus talked about anger. The teacher Ms. Kay Ann taught the little ones about how anger can be very dangerous. Sometimes when we're mad, we do or say mean things, things we wouldn't normally do. We might curse, or insult someone, even hit them. And that's where the danger comes in.

She then went on to give a visual example about how "anger" is actually contained within the word "danger" then told a story about Sally and how one day she got angry and just bubbled up and exploded (Visually explained by mixing up baking soda and vinegar in poor little Sally).

Anyway, I thought about this and I realized that if I'm going to be angry, I'm going to have to control it. Sure anger isn't bad, but if we're going to be angry, it needs to be for the right reasons. Not over stupid, petty things, or misguided madness. But control is of the utmost importance.

I realize that if I yell at my fellow band mates, they won't respect me and take my leadership position seriously. I have to be nice, kind, and gentle, and use my teenage-ness (real word?) to encourage them in a way that I know would work with me. That's the thing about teens. We're all hard-headed little buggers. I know by experience that yelling, insulting, and anger does not make teens want to work harder, it usually makes them rebel more, so I know that I am going to try to have patience with my fellow band geeks, so that hopefully we will all work hard and have a magnificent competition season!

As a little challenge, I would like to encourage anyone who happens to see this post to do the same. It's not easy, but hey, when is anything ever easy? It'll take work, but at least people will respect you more!

Ephesians 4:26 - In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.