Is Frustration A Sin?

Be ye angry, and sin not:

let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

Eph 4:26(KJV)



I sat at the computer the other night. I posted an entry on my blog. My last step before I labeled and published it was to add an image-a picture of an open Bible. I couldn’t get it placed in the upper right corner where I like to put something colorful and attractive.



I brought the image from my blog and moved it up the page several times. Two different times, I had two pictures. We’d had a trying day with Hubby’s medical tests. One set didn’t get done, then he got sick.(I believe it was stress that caused this.) I tried to reschedule the one that needed an appointment but they were all booked-up for two days. So we went to it, anyway,

As I groused about this picture placement issue, my son told me to “edit HTML”. I went into the tab and couldn’t find the ‘picture’. He found the information and added two terms and solved my problem.

I thanked him and said something about almost loosing my cool because of the issue. His reply told me he has learned a few things coming up.

“Now what would that have done?”

“I might have felt better.”

“That wouldn’t have moved the picture. That picture has no feelings. It didn’t know you were frustrated.”

I went on and posted my second entry. This time, I had no problem. I had to do some laundry, so I logged off and went the rest of my evening. When I was out on a shopping trip, I had redeemed a Family Perks coupon at the Family Christian Store. I purchased The Shack, The Secret by Beverly Lewis, and Stormie O’Martian’s Just Enough Light for the Step I’m On.

A close friend told me she was reading “The Shack” and recommended it to me. I started reading it as I awaited the washing machine to run its cycle.

When I awoke the next morning, I thought about my frustration of the previous night.

“Is frustration a sin?” I kept asking myself.

Webster’s New World Dictionary defines the verb ‘frustrate’ as ‘to keep from an objective, to baffle, to foil.’

As I thought about the word, I realized that frustration could be an emotion-like love, anger, jealousy, and happiness. If this is the case, then frustration isn’t a sin; our acting upon it is.

I learned a lesson here. One I should have a long time ago. Thanks to an image that was doing what I didn’t want, I discovered something to help me ‘grow up’ as a Christian, a wife and mother, and, even maybe, as a writer. The experience wasn’t all bad.