Proverbs 14:29 "One slow to anger is of great understanding, but he who is short of spirit exalts folly."

The first day I tried to write this message about anger, I found myself getting plenty of experience in the matter. Someone had approached me, by e-mail,  expressing concern for my well-being, but they soon changed the direction of the conversation to trying to convince me to their way of believing and continued on to making negative and judgmental comments about my beliefs, and my relationship with God. This conversation went on for a few days partly because I wanted to defend my beliefs and because this person was commenting on a very personal and sensitive subject. I can see now that I should have just ended the conversation much sooner, but when you're in the middle of the situation it's hard to be objective about it.

During this conversation I felt myself getting angry, while at the same time I was trying to write about anger.   When I realized the irony of the situation,  I told tell myself to start practicing what I was planning to write. That's when I listened to the Holy Spirit nudging me to start praying for help with the situation and ask for help to stay calm. After praying I came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to turn off the computer and walk away. In this situation I was short of spirit. Had I been slow to anger,  I would have prayed first and ended the conversation as soon as I saw where it was headed.

Anger shows itself in different ways. There's the short tempered person who flashes anger and reacts without taking time to even think about what they're doing. Those are the ones who make fools of themselves, which only adds to their frustration and anger.