To Be Sheltered and Safe

why do we wound ourselves over and over with the same arrows?  why can't we let go of our anger and our self-inflicted punishments?  we tell ourselves that we are learning from our mistakes but, in reality, we're giving our minds the power to keep us in a constant state of agitation.  i remember my anger with our former president and my persistent attention to anti-trump commentators on television.  there was nothing i could do to stop trump from holding his hatred-filled rallies or sending out tweets filled with invective and lies.  yet i was perpetually angry that such a person exists and that so many people have become his devotees.  what good did i accomplish with my anger?  trump continues on his destructive path and his loyal followers continue to proclaim what they see as his greatness.

i think, too, of a close friend who had become upset with the church he attends and with its pastor.  every time we got together, he wanted to talk about the latest offense the pastor had committed and to restate all the ways the church caused him to be distressed.  his wife kept telling him to look for positive aspects to his relationship with their church.  my wife and i asked him why he continued to put himself through such torment when there were other churches around that wouldn't affect him in this way.  no solution offered to him would assuage his anger until he finally realized that he couldn't change the way things were at his church.  he either had to accept them and follow his wife's advice or stay angry, since he was unwilling to quit attending this church because of his wife's loyalty to it, even though she agreed with most of his criticisms.  fortunately for him, he was able to let go of his anger and frustration and move on from this fixation with something he couldn't change.

this is a pattern that we often follow.  rather than realizing that our anger changes nothing, we persist in it.  may we stop our minds from filling us with anger.  may we rationally consider our options and choose one that does not cause us to suffer.  may we be at peace with ourselves and with others.  shalom.