Positive Anger

I stumbled upon this funny story in my archives folder. One of my spiritual directees might have sent this to me. I just thought the couple in the story might be able to remind us of something.

There was once a man and woman who had been
married for more than 60 years. They had shared
everything. They had talked about everything. They
had kept no secrets from each other except that
the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of
her closet that she had cautioned her husband
never to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about
the box, but one day the little old woman got very
sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In
trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man
took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's
bedside. She agreed that it was time that he
should know what was in the box. When he
opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a
stack of money totaling $25,000. He asked her
about the contents.

"When we were to be married," she said, "my
grandmother told me the secret of a happy
marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I
ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet
and crochet a doll."

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight
back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the
box. She had only been angry with him two times
in all those years of living and loving. He almost
burst with happiness.

"Honey," he said, "that explains the dolls, but what
about all of this money? Where did it come from?"

"Oh," she said, "that's the money I made from
selling all the dolls.

Dear God, I pray for Wisdom to understand my
man;
Love to forgive him;
And Patience for his moods; because God, if I pray
for Strength, I'll beat him to death.