Slideshow image

LISTEN

“Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.”—EPHESIANS 4:26 (NRSVUE)

Reflect
I keep a sign on my desk that says, “stay angry,” which I find both hilarious and very helpful. However, the suggestion that we “stay angry” might feel alarming given our culture’s desire to name anger as “bad.” But anger has saved my life when hospitals or insurance agencies kept ignoring me. It has kept me from giving into unfair expectations of me (hello sexism!). Anger lets us know when a boundary has been crossed. Anger responds to injustice and to grief, telling us the world is not as it should be. Perhaps anger isn’t negative, it’s just information that tells us that something is not right and maybe it is time to act. So, if you’re like me and you need a little anger, then how about this for encouragement: stay angry, my friends.

Respond
I have started a spiritual practice of rage. Wanna join? Grab an egg or two you wouldn't mind wasting (I keep the expired ones on hand for this very moment). Throw it as hard as you can into your sink. How does it feel?

Blessing for feeling it all

Blessed are you who feel things big.
You who might feel embarrassment
because of how overwhelming things can be.

Blessed are you who need reminders
that emotions are not bad or good.
They are just…information.
You feel angry because this is unjust.
You feel sad because this is awful.
You feel tired because this is exhausting.

Your emotions are not wrong or bad
or lying to you
or telling the full truth.
They are giving you a bit of data
that you shouldn’t ignore.
We love,
and lose,
and fall,

and get back up,
and fail,
and try again.

Your humanity is not an affront.
We are reminding ourselves that
this is how we’re made:
to feel pain, grief, stress,
risk, fear, and heartbreak.

So, you beautiful creature,
here is your permission to feel big.
To feel joy and delight and excitement.
And sorrow and fear and despair.

All the yellows and pinks,
and violets and grays.
Because you are the whole damn sky.15

15 Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie. “For Feeling It All” in The
Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days. (New
York: Convergent Books, 2023). 4-5.

© KateBowler.com