How to Express Anger

We know that there are ways for us to prevent anger...especially by being quick to listen and slow to speak.  But, there will always be times when we get angry.  AND there are appropriate ways for us to express that anger that can be healthy rather than destructive.

We took a look at Ephesians 4:25-28, Matthew 5:23-26 and Matthew 21:12-13.  In these passages we discovered three characteristics of healthy anger:  Healthy anger is rooted in truth, not falsehood.  Healthy anger seeks resolution, not dominance.  Healthy anger focuses on giving, not taking.  We took a little quiz to evaluate our own anger and found that some of us are stuffers who are afraid to hurt other's feelings and therefore end up hurting ourselves by keeping in all our emotions and need to work on expressing our feelings appropriately.  Some of us are exploders who handle anger spontaneously and aggressively and need to work on finding more constructive ways to handle our anger.  And some of us are manipulators who want to get revenge but do so passively and need to work on face to face problem solving skills.  When you evaluate your anger, what category do you fall in?  Take time this week to really look at how you deal with anger and work on ways to do so more constructively!

After our discussion, we spent time in mission tracing and cutting out teddy bear patterns for Operation Christmas Child!