Anger

There is a book that has an interesting spin on anger called "How to Hug a Porcupine" by Dr. John Lewis Luna. In this book, he said that the first natural reaction to an unfavorable

situation is frustration, but from there it is really our choice what happens next. I would add that sometimes, like river beds that have been carved out of the earth from years and years of water taking that particular path, that it is hard to change which direction our emotions go, but like anything with the Savior it is possible to change.

Anger is not a source of power. It is a chaotic emotion that takes away our control and ability to make choices. It has a lot of energy behind it, energy that can lead us to do things that we normally would not be able to do, but usually those are also things that if we were thinking clearing we would not want to do do them. Acts in anger almost always lead to regret - no matter what the reason or how badly you were hurt or offended. In the end, anger has nothing to do with the other person and punishing them, and has everything to do with how much control you have over yourself.

In this last General Conference of the Church, Elder Boyd K. Packard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gave a message on letting out anger go - and he made some very piercing and honest remarks about the realities we face.

There are so many scriptures speaking on anger and how one should not be angry. But is there such a thing as righteous anger? I would say no, not as we see the definition. God's anger may have been provoked, Moses may have destroy the tablets containing God's Law at the sight of the Israelite's sin, and Christ may have purge the temple of shops with a wipe - but I do not believe it was the kind of uncontrollable anger that we are familiar with on a daily basis. I believe it is more of a calculated frustration that is meant to teach us something more than simply lashing out to punish us. Like how an angered father will send his disobedient child on a time-out, he's trying to teach him something instead of satisfying some flaring emotional need.

To end this topic, I wrote something the other day while feeling quite grumpy from a particularly bad day of pain. I now find myself repeating it in my own quest for self-control.

Hard times - pain, grief, hunger and all the conditions that take away my comfort and peace - will always destroy me and create a new creature. It is my choice what that creature will be - an animal or an angel.

Angels, Ministering

In my last entry I touched upon what the broad definition of an angel is and how we along with those who have gone before can be angel's to God (see D&C 130:5). I would like to expand on the specific word "Ministering" and what it means.

In this month's Ensign (the LDS monthly magazine for adults) there was an article about how we can minister to each other. In this article, Sister Allred defines our roll as ministers to each other as:

Observe and anticipate needs. For instance, if a sister you visit has an upcoming test at school, perhaps you could make her dinner sometime during the week so she can have more study time. If the brother you home teach is looking for a job, introduce him to people who might be able to help.

There were other sections in the article about praying with them and watching over their spirituality, but for ministering she said that looking over and acting on the individual needs of people is what it is all about.

When thinking about angel's in the scriptures who ministered, I found that they too were looking out for specific needs. When Gabriel visited Mary, he had a specific message to give her and specific comfort to give. It was not just a random visit to give a practiced, generalized message about spirituality. This is also true of the angel who visited Alma after he was kicked out of Ammoninhah for preaching the gospel. He needed a pick-me-up and some specific encouragement, not a random quote from a past prophet about being good.

When we minister to each other, it is not just the service or the teaching, it is really paying attention to an individual need and doing our best to address it. God's kingdom may be a community, but it is a community of individuals who have needs that God expects us to meet as best we can.