Noonday Notes

Issue No. 32

January 30th, 2026

This week brought up a lot of feels. I keep realizing for whatever reason it’s easier for me to reside in grief, than anger. That’s my default. I typically get sad, not mad.  And yet, it’s in the pain of sadness where I have a history of saying, doing, or texting things I later regret. They are familiar feels, just not always fruitful.

This week I noticed something different. When I consciously shifted into anger I found focus. I found self-discipline. And strangely, I found mercy. I found myself imagining that the people, situations, or systems I’m angry with also need grace, forgiveness, and mercy.

What comes to mind is Jesus’ last words: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Not that I’m Jesus, or all-knowing, or always right. If you know me, you know I am constantly battling with “I’m wrong. I’m bad. I can’t be trusted”, or what my therapist called “negative cognitions”.

Anger, for me, is somehow less painful than sadness. It can be externalized. Internalized emotions like sadness can be exhausting and heavy, and yet I always go there. Anger is energy. It’s ready to be expressed, and that’s where it can get ugly if we’re not careful. Anger turned inward can become a shame spiral.

I’m finding that anger, when it’s not self-righteous or pride-protecting, can actually be productive. Humble anger. Anger that fuels repentance. Anger that leads to a desire to change. From there, mercy and grace can be extended, to yourself and to those who have wronged you.

This might be what Paul was getting at in Ephesians 5:25 when he tells husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church. Even in disagreement we can be angry and gracious at the same time. Dialogue can still happen.

So how does this connect to farming? Well, here we go.

Farming isn’t just planting, watering, feeding, and harvesting. It’s planning, plotting, praying, and placing—putting things in their rightful place. Like placing soil in the intended spot, not smack in the middle where the beds will go. Yes, that happened this week.

Farming is your hydraulics going out on your harrow right when you need them. Been there.
Farming is your compressor freezing up and losing hundreds of pounds of produce. Also been there.
Farming is the tomato blight of 2009 resulting in total crop failure. Been there. Tomatoes, y’all. It was epic. Look it up.

Farming is anger, but channeled properly, it becomes focus, self-discipline, and grace toward yourself and others.

I think we could all use more mercy, grace, and forgiveness these days. If we didn’t need it, the Creator of the Universe never would have come down here to bring it. He did so from both anger and love, justice and mercy. God can’t go against who He is.

It is from His anger at our sin, our brokenness, our messiness, and the horrific ways we treat ourselves and others that He offers grace, mercy, and forgiveness. His anger is also love. May ours be as well.

Read the rest of the newsletter here.