You would be true to yourself if you only knew Who you are and what you are worth. You are true to a lesser version you have of yourself. You are true to that which is not yourself. Now you will be true to love. You will know that at every moment you have a choice. Decide now. Choose love. Given a choice, you certainly would, wouldn’t you?
Only you think you don’t have a choice. In the flare of a moment, when you feel anything but love, you don’t know how to choose love. You would if you could, you say. If at a particular moment, you cannot in your heart love, can you not have kindness? Can you not substitute kindness for anger? If you cannot rally kindness, can you not rally courtesy? If you cannot speak without anger, can you not speak to yourself, and ask yourself whether the anger is worth it, worth the absence of good feeling?
If anger does not begin to have the value that love does, why then would you choose it over love? I realize that you think anger is foisted on you, but when you have anger, you chose it. You chose it because of the way you view the circumstance that you blame your anger on. You were affronted. Someone stole something from you. They stole your jewelry or your good name. Is that not enough they’ve taken? Must you forgo love and give them your anger as well?
You cannot waste love, but all anger is a waste. It wastes you. You assault your own body with anger. Enraged, your body reflects the tightness and redness of anger. Anger blocks your circulation. It harms your vision. It blocks your hearing.
Somehow you believe that anger does you some good. You must, or you would not choose it. You say it lets off steam. Rewrite your thinking and you will not have steam to let off.
You say there is self-righteous anger. I say there is not. I say there is love and only love.
What benefits you or your child when you are angry with him? Can you not accomplish more without anger?
If you had it in your mind that anger is not necessary, not worthy, not helpful, would you have it or so much of it? Do not ships get knocked about in rough waters, and do they not go full-steam ahead in calm?
Can you imagine stars fighting amongst themselves? Can you imagine the sun and the moon having arguments? Can you imagine the Earth sticking its fist at the Sun? Can you imagine the river and its banks fussing with each other? When all is said and done, beloveds, what is there to dispute?
And yet you imagine that you must defeat another and call that winning. What do you win? When all is said and done, what do you win? A handful of ashes burnt in the fire.
When you find yourself in the grips of anger, remember Me. Remember I am with you. I am not thinking of who is right and who is wrong. I am thinking of you. Rightness or wrongness is not the issue. Anyway, anger doesn’t settle it.
Today, will you think in terms of creative possibilities? Sometimes a question works. Can you stop and say to the one whom you feel is against you, “What are we doing being so angry?” If you cannot, at least can you stop and ask yourself, “What am I doing being so angry? Can I not make better use of my time? Is this the face I want to present to God and the world? Can I not be what I want to be? If I were wise, how would I end this now?”