Alice the Camel - Introduction to Anger

When we were kids we used to sing this song called Alice the Camel. The idea was to start off at the highest number you could think of and count backwards as Alice loses another hump... as we would get closer and closer to zero we would get louder and louder and more excited! Eventually (depending on how high we could count!!) we would get to the last verse: Alice the camel has no humps so ALICE (shouting it now...) IS A HORSE!!! Then we'd keel over with much hilarity and, if our parents were extremely unlucky, we'd start again.

I think that anger is a lot like this song, only we don't fall over laughing. We start our day off with loads of humps, although some people have the unfortunate disposition to only have a few, and as each event of the day unravels we tend to lose a few humps. If the day has found itself to be highly frustrating, we may lose all our humps by lunch, and become a little hoarse from shouting, screaming and tossing the occasional piece of office stationary. We get angry! My dad always used to say to me: "When you get cross, things get worse." At the time it never really helped, but upon reflection, his words were wise.

Anger comes in more than one form, it can come gradually or immediately, we sometimes store it up and hold imaginary black-books against people. Either way, anger hinders us from encouraging others. The last thing you feel like doing when you're angry is saying: "Hey, good job!" If we are able to muster those words, it's often through gritted teeth!!

I look forward to journeying with you as we look at anger, what it is and how we can effectively deal with it through GOD's love and hand in our lives. Ultimately, I think we all want to be happy and encouraging people, but with the curve balls that often get pitched our way, it can be hard. Being a Christian, or Christ Follower, doesn't mean that we get it right all the time, but it does mean that we are Saved, Justified and Sanctified by GOD's grace. I love Rom 8:38 where we are reminded that nothing can separate us from GOD's love that is ours through Jesus Christ! So be encouraged by those words, even if you get so mad and let your anger totally control you, GOD can fix the situation!