I was at the Atlanta airport, wearing a headband with sequin-studded reindeer antlers, on my way to a Christmas gathering in Florida. Sadly, despite my jaunty headwear, I was arguing with an airport official.  

Minutes earlier, I had asked her where the line for TSA precheck was, and she had pointed me down a long corridor. After trudging in that direction, hauling a heavy carry-on bag, I asked another official where the line was, and she directed me back to the first lady.  

As I made my way back to the original spot, I felt anger building. This is never a good thing, but the worst thing is succumbing to it. Looking back, I see I had a clear choice. Let the whole thing go and chalk it up to human error or make a big thing out of it. Unfortunately, I chose option two.  

“Why did you send me in the wrong direction when I asked about TSA precheck?” I fumed. 

“You did not say precheck,” she retorted. “You just said TSA.”  

“No, I said precheck,” I countered. As she repeated her version of what I had said, I suddenly stopped myself in my tracks. What in the world was I doing? Why was I engaging in an angry discussion with an airport official? I suddenly pictured a photo of myself, complete with reindeer antlers, on the list titled “do not allow these people to fly.” 

“I’m sorry, you’re right,” I said, while backing away. “I’m really sorry, it was my mistake.” And with these words, I vanished into the crowd, feeling relieved that I hadn’t been hauled away by a TSA agent for causing trouble.  

It can be quite educational to observe ourselves under various conditions, as if we were watching someone else. We all get angry, but we don’t react in the same way. Once we let anger control our actions, we lose our inner peace. In the short time that I returned to the original official, anger led me down a dark path.  

Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, when we are offended, but how quickly I struck back. He tells us to forgive others, but how quickly I lashed out at the official. He tells us to love our enemies, but I was seeking my own version of revenge by accusing her of deliberately misleading me.  

St. Augustine lived a life of sexual immorality in his younger years, and then when he found Christ, he struggled to give up his sinful ways. In his early stages of conversion, he desperately wanted to change but was still in the grips of lust.  

His prayer was: “Lord, give me chastity and continence, but not yet.” This is humorous, but also very human. We want to free ourselves from the clutches of sin, but we often cling to the old ways.  

Mean-spirited thoughts can lead to ugly actions, unless we learn to control ourselves. In “Our Thoughts Control Our Lives,” Russian abbott Elder Thaddeus wrote, “If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek and kind, then that is what our life is like.”  

And what happens when we surrender to lustful or angry or cruel thoughts? “We are drawn into a whirlpool of thoughts and can have neither peace nor tranquility.” This is exactly what happened to me in the airport.  

My prayer for the New Year is simple enough: “Lord, help me to be meek and humble of heart like you were. And please help me restrain my angry and mean-spirited inclinations, especially when I’m wearing reindeer antlers.”