An unpleasant circumstance confronts you. Will you be angry over it? Or will you be a healer? These are not the questions usually posed when it comes to the subject of anger. After all, don't circumstances themselves—even without our consent—have the power to make us angry? Haven't we all found ourselves thinking, even saying, "That makes me so angry!" From this generally accepted conclusion that circumstances will make us angry arise the questions most often posed for public consideration: What's the best way to manage anger? Is it better for our health to express anger or to repress it? Is there a constructive, rather than a destructive, outlet for anger?

In the book of Proverbs in the Bible we read, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city" (16:32).

In the course of being "slow to anger," we can quiet our thought and take our direction from God, universal divine Love. We can cast anger out instead of being made angry by error, and become the humble servants of Love. This choice is in itself an act of unselfed love; we must want to be healed and to be the healing representative of divine Love more than we want our own way. This Christly mental stance constitutes real might.

On the other hand, the belief that anger is inevitable, and that the best we can do is to learn to control it through human will or to find an appropriate outlet for it, leaves out the important fact that God alone has the power to govern us rightly. This power belongs neither to human circumstances nor to human will. Healing and health come into our lives not through anger but through understanding and yielding to the total goodness of God's government.

It doesn't matter what needs healing—a relationship, a body, an attitude, a society—or how major or minor a difficulty may be. This truth from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy is applicable in every situation: "God will heal the sick through man, whenever man is governed by God" (p. 495). We are all created as God's very own expression, the spiritual expression of divine Love. That's who we really are. And that's why we each can find it natural to consent to His government and to be healers, rather than to react with anger.

Anger is not a quality of God. He has nothing to be angry over, for His allness disallows anything that is unlike Him, unlike good. God is in full control of His expression, the expression of Spirit. The man God creates, His spiritual image and likeness, reflects His perfection, purity, and harmony. This has never changed, will never change, can never change. These are provable facts of the divine Science of being.

If there were anything over which we should be angry, it would be this: that ignorance of God and ignoring God tend to produce disease and many of the inharmonies that crop up in human lives. But the discords produced by ignorance of God, and those produced by being willfully disobedient to Him, are no more real and substantial than are the ignorance and disobedience themselves. Ignorance and disobedience—and the inharmonies growing out of them—dissolve in the presence of spiritual understanding and loving obedience to God. Anger only clouds our vision, making unrealities seem like solid substance. This is not a position of strength from which to bring healing to any situation. The real position of strength to take against any evil is one of humble receptivity to spiritual enlightenment from God, with a readiness to conform lovingly to His will.

It's important to pray daily to realize that God alone has authority over us. No circumstance can usurp His authority. It can only seem to do so by our unwitting, or unwatchful, consent. The more firmly we are grounded in the spiritual understanding of God, however—including the fact that He alone is our Maker—the less likely we are to fall for the suggestion that a material circumstance can have control over us or dominate our thinking. And the more clearly we understand that obedience to God defeats and destroys sin and disease, the more readily we will choose to be healers instead of being diverted from healing by allowing ourselves to be made angry over error.

Instructions on Christian Science healing in Science and Health include this statement: "Casting out evil and fear enables truth to outweigh error" (p. 392). Similarly, casting anger out of our thought has a healing effect.

To me, it's a wonderful thing that we can choose to reject anger; that we can choose instead to let God heal the situation through our yielding to His government. I've seen the benefits of this in my own experience in all kinds of situations over many years. When the suggestion has come to me, "That makes me angry!" I have often found myself responding mentally something to this effect: "No. This situation cannot make me be anything. God has made me to express His goodness and love. I'm going to be still and listen to Him, and let Him heal this situation through His government of me." And I've witnessed the healing.

The Master himself, Christ Jesus, said, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5). No one knew better than Jesus the value of meekly gaining control over oneself, and over evil, by placing oneself squarely under God's government. This is the way Jesus healed so consistently and successfully. And each of us can follow the Master's example by realizing that the healing power is in God alone—and by yielding to His will.

Anytime a situation arises that tempts us to be angry, we have a choice. Will we be a healer? We are healers when we unselfishly close the door of our thought on anger, and any evil, so that we see the truth that outweighs error—the truth of God's supremacy and the uninvadable harmony of His creation. God gives us the strength to know and make the right choice, the one that's best for our own health and for everyone else's. It's always the choice to love, to heal.

Barbara M. Vining

PROVERBS

A soft answer turneth away wrath:but grievous words stir up anger. The
tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright.
Proverbs 15:1, 2