Day 31

Anger and health

The story is told of the army commander with leprosy who wanted healing. He asked permission of his boss to seek a cure from the neighbouring country. The permission was duly given, the party set out and were finally directed to the healer.

The cure was simply to bathe in a local river.

The local river was not impressive – the River Leen in Nottingham is far more picturesque. The army commander is far less than happy with the remedy suggesting that the rivers of his own country would be far more fitting for a water cure.

When we have a problem we don’t neccesarily want the easiest solution. If the doctor suggests a regime of tablets and dietary change we would follow the remedy. If the doctor recommends an hours extra sleep we would be unhappy. ‘Too simple’, we might think.

The cure for anger is to be, “daily filled with God’s Spirit, through which Christ lives in us”.

It sounds too easy, we are looking for more to do, a set of exercises, books to read and prayers to say.

The real remedy is to ask God to give you the Holy Spirit and let Him do the curing of the anger.

Peter