Turning Irritations into Opportunities

My husband and I were approaching the third mile of our evening walk when we heard something that caused us both to become silent and run.

While walking, we had unexpectedly encountered a large swarm of gnats.  The approaching darkness somewhat disguised their presence, but I could feel them all around my face and could hear their soft humming sound. In response, we simply closed our mouths and jogged in silence until we were out of their reach.

I instinctively realized that the wisest thing I could do in the midst of this irritating situation was to stop talking.

Sometimes, we just need to “zip it.”

Hanging around to swat at the annoying gnats would have produced nothing except a mouth full of them.

Even though there are big differences between animal irritants and human ones, the wisest response is often the same.  Sometimes I get it right, and sometimes I don’t!

Quite a few years ago, I stopped by an office to request that they fax an official document another office had requested.

One of the women in the office gruffly responded to my request by snapping, “We don’t do that!”

She used her facial expression and tone of voice to let me know she fully enjoyed telling me “We don’t do that!”

It just so happened that I had spent some time reading the Bible earlier that morning. This had left me with what the Bible describes as a peace that is beyond understanding. The instinct to react to her rudeness was there, but thankfully, I felt as if I was being supernaturally restrained. If anything, my only response was something like, “Oh, ok. Thank you.”

I was about to leave when another woman in the office approached me, took the paper from my hand, walked over to the fax machine, and began to send the document. She had overheard the woman’s rudeness and taken matters into her own hands. The woman, who had refused to fax the document, stared in disbelief at this woman, and then at me.

I still said nothing. After a few moments of awkward silence, she said, “I recognize your last name. I think I have seen it on a sign. Is your husband a pastor?”

When I replied that he was, her response stunned me. She said, “So that’s why you reacted the way you did.”

My mental response was, “That was really close!”

As I said, sometimes I get it right and sometimes I don’t.

This small irritation had actually resulted in a huge opportunity.

The need of someone to see the love of Jesus through me that day was so much greater than my need to get the document faxed in an expedited manner. Thankfully, it worked out where both could happen.

I think we can all agree that we NEED God’s help in dealing with the daily irritations of life and people. We each have our own set of triggers.

What, then, is the secret to turning small irritations into huge opportunities?

Sometimes, we just need to say less and keep moving forward.

May the Lord give us all the grace to practice verbal restraint and may we see and grasp often disguised opportunities to show the love of Jesus.

Like David, I find that I must often pray, “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.” Psalm 141:3 NKJV