2497) I have never been to a circus, though I have seen enough of them on television to picture what happens in a show.

One of the things I think I would have been scared to see as a child is a lion in the same cage as a person, and the lion is riled up. I think I might have recognized that the person in there purposely stirred up the lion to make for a better show.

In thinking about stirring up lions, Proverbs 19:11 comes to mind. It reads, good sense makes one slow to anger … (EVS)

This verse and several like it confused me as a child. I didn’t think a person could control anger; it’s just something that happens in response to situations. Now, as an adult, I realize there are things to do to keep the anger from being as big as a lion.

Anger is a reaction to injustice on many levels, and this is good. It persuades us to stand up for the person or thing that is being handled unjustly, and yet, it can grow too strong and it tips the scale of justice in the other direction.

Can we control our anger? Yes, but it’s not easy. Identifying the injustice, determining why it’s present, good or bad, is doing something important. By doing this, we can allow anger to be a catalyst for doing good things.

When anger grows because we have not acknowledged it, the target that dished the injustice out is not thwarted, often fueling a volatile thing. Seeing the lion of anger, evaluating what injustice it represents, and then reacting to that injustice is a much better goal then just sitting there, stewing about it.