We all have them don't we? Those little actions by people or things around us that either slightly irritate us or drive us totally nuts. For my husband it may be a car that needs vacuumed, for my daughter it is two old people not talking while eating out at a restaurant. For the "What Not To Wear" people, it's visible panty lines. We all have at least one pet peeve in our life, most have many.
Mine is known to all in my family. It's become a laughing matter whenever we go shopping, be it a grocery or retail store, wherever you have to pay for the goods you take home. My pet peeve usually comes into play at the pay counter or the small space in which you have to make the transaction. The Rijfkogel's affectionately refer to this area as our "pay space." Expect me to briefly step out of my right mind if mine gets violated. You all know what I'm talking about, those annoying customers behind you that hurry to put their little space bar down between your groceries and their groceries and then they huddle up right next to you as if you're going to pay for their purchases as well. Or maybe they actually are watching over your shoulder while you're pressing all those secret code buttons as if they are making themselves available should you need their help. These are the times that quite honestly, if I wasn't the woman of God He called me to be, I would stare them right in the face and say "Well, do I want cash back or not?"
But I don't pop off to them, and I wouldn't. I simple go out to the car mumbling under my breath little utterances about payspaces, passcodes and people being in too much of a hurry. By the time I get to the car, I'm always over it. Never remembering the pushy little faces that so defiantly violated my pay space. Do y'all get my drift about how much this annoys me or do I need to snow again?
And, even as I am writing this, I realize that I may be someone’s pet peeve. I probably have some little action, of which I am totally unaware, that annoys someone else to the bone. Perhaps it’s when I am most preoccupied with some deep thought or caught up in the responsibilities of the day. When I am simply relying on auto pilot to walk me through a routine action while my mind is engaged in something more demanding of my concentration. Could it be that these people that annoy me so much for that brief period in “pay land” could be mentally focused on a tragedy in their life? They could be worried about their finances and whether or not they could afford what they had on the conveyor belt. Maybe they really were in a hurry because they had a sick loved one at home that was in need of something they were buying, but they didn’t want to be rude and ask me if they could go ahead of me.
Even as I type, conviction sets in. I am so reminded of the fruit of the spirit listed in Galations 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, KINDNESS, goodness, faithfulness…” I added the emphasis on kindness because my commentary puts it all in a nutshell. It says “Kindness is goodness in action, sweetness of disposition, gentleness in dealing with others, benevolence. The word describes the ability to act for the welfare of those taxing your patience.” (hmmmmmm) “The Holy Spirit removes abrasive qualities from the character of one under His control.”
The fruit of the Spirit will get us through those everyday “testy” trials in our lives. Not only will we reap a harvest of kindness when we need it most, but the fruit helps us to discern those who are in need of our particular gift of ministry.
The next time my “pay space” gets violated, I’ll just head over to the produce section. J
Cya,
Brenda
No comments:
Post a Comment