Yesterday my #9 was having some trouble with his math. Frustrated he cried, “I don’t know how to get rid of my angry!” I prayed quickly for a solution to help him deal with this emotion in a positive way. In my sessions with my clients, we have been working through traumas by visualizing handing Jesus our bundled up emotions. Why not do this in a tangible way for kids?

“How about you draw a picture of what your angry looks like on this piece of paper with an orange crayon?” I suggested. He began drawing an angry stick figure face with fire around the outside of him. His brothers’ curiosity were perked and they gathered around to see what was going on. They giggled a little at the face, and so did the artist. Next I pulled over a stool. “Ask Jesus to come sit close to you on this stool,” I coaxed him. He prayed for Jesus to sit by him. “Let’s hand Jesus your angry and pray that He takes it away and fills you with peace instead.” We prayed simple words, asking Jesus to take the emotions and fill us with peace and love in our hearts. Looking at the picture sitting on the stool I said, “How about ripping this up and throwing it away now?” He gladly snatched the paper and declared, “Let’s shred it!” He ran to the shredder and put it in there, laughing.

This definitely wasn’t a one stop fix all solution, however it did us some tangible ways to diffuse an emotional bomb. It is so wonderful when God shows us creative outlets to deal with our feelings instead of stuffing them, or exploding them all over the place. Honestly, I might have to try this the next time I can’t “get rid of my angry.”