How Not to Slap People

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

James 1:19-20

Do you ever just want to smack somebody? Lately, I have found myself wanting to do that more and more. And the sad part is they really don't deserve it. I'm getting more frustrated with people than normal and I don't know why. My temper is short. My patience shorter. Mostly, this all occurs in my mind. I don't think the people around me have noticed it much yet, but they soon will if I don't get it under control. But how?

What I am really mad about often isn't the minor annoyance that just occurred. It's the fact that it or something like it has happened five times this week! In other words, I've been keeping a record. Not so much a record of wrongs as a record of annoyances. Pet peeves. Things that kinda tick me off. I don't actively think about it, but all of that frustration is building up just below the surface of my life. So much so that I can be completely happy one minute, but as soon as something frustrates me all of that old built up frustration surges to the surface and I'm ready to explode. The amount of frustration I feel is all out of proportion to the situation. I am convinced that Christians ought not live this way, that we ought to discipline ourselves to deal with our frustration in a better way so that we can be "slow to anger." I knew I had to find a better way.

It occurred to me that I needed to find a way to vent my frustrations. I could yell at the people that are frustrating me, kick the cat, take it out on my family, or force my wife to listen to me complain for the third time this week OR I could take it to the Lord in prayer. I've decided that venting my frustrations in prayer is far superior to the other options. For a while now I have been utilizing the A.C.T.S. prayer model which stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. I'm going to change it to the F.A.C.T.S. prayer model and add in frustrations.

For me this is a two part strategy. First, in my extended prayer time I need to focus some time on praying over all the things that are frustrating me. If I can vent all of that to the Lord and let it go, then I can start my day at a frustration level of zero instead of 100. But secondly, and maybe even more importantly, prayer must become my first response when I sense frustration starting to build. When someone cuts me off in traffic or does something else that drives me nuts I need to pray about it right that second. 

So take a minute to pray over all the things people do that make you want to lose your cool, all the things that you sense building up inside you. And throughout the day as things irritate you, take it immediately to God in prayer and let it go. Hopefully, by doing this you and I can both keep ourselves from actually slapping anyone.