Anger Mismanagement

Olivia helps build a homecoming float that Amber has designed and organized for months. On the one day Valerie finally appears to work, reporter Ted Humphries arrives early for an interview Amber has eagerly anticipated. Valerie speaks on camera without calling Amber and boasts that she is better suited to the attention anyway. Olivia is furious on Amber's behalf.

Whit explains that anger is not automatically sinful. Jesus became angry at wrongdoing, and Paul teaches people not to sin when they are angry. The danger lies in what Olivia chooses to think and do next. Whit suggests stepping away, praying, reading Scripture, writing down her feelings, and seeking a clearer perspective before she acts.

Wooton gives Olivia another example when an irritable Mrs. Kramer blames him for a package that has not arrived. He imagines that an angry person may be carrying pain he knows nothing about, which helps him respond with sympathy rather than return the anger. He even brings Mrs. Kramer a milkshake and rescues her cat's sweater from a thorny rosebush. She finally admits that painful rheumatism has made her irritable and apologizes for taking it out on him.

Olivia still refuses to work on the float whenever Valerie is present. As a result, she misses its final week and the celebration afterward. When Valerie asks why she disappeared, Olivia controls her response but suddenly recognizes what her resentment has cost her. Helping Wooton has been enjoyable enough to make her forget her anger, while holding on to it has shut her out of something she cared about.

At the Parker home, David faces his own test. He suggests that Lucia try launching her haircutting business in the family room, expecting only a few customers. Instead, he returns to find the house packed with clients. He spends the evening drying and washing hair, misses a remarkable football game, and goes upstairs frustrated.

By morning, David recognizes that the crowded salon is partly the result of his own successful idea and that blaming Eva or Lucia will help no one. He removes the sale sign from the family van and turns it into a mobile hair salon so Lucia can serve customers in their own homes. His practical solution gives her growing business a future without taking over the Parker house.

Before the parade, Olivia learns that Amber was never angry with Valerie and actually considered her a better person for the interview. Ted has also discarded the original recording in favor of a live report featuring everyone who worked on the float. Olivia has spent days nursing anger over an injustice its supposed victim did not resent. Freed from it at last, she rejoins the celebration and gives Valerie credit for the work she eventually contributed.