Oh, Those Little Irritations

By Harold & Bette Gillogly

Some days everything bothers me.  Like a pebble in my shoe.  And I’m just irritable… grumpy at everybody.  Can you identify?

By evening, I’m left with a wasted day.  I let little irritations enslave me and steal all my joy.  And I was a generous grump, spreading irritableness in my wake.  Yeah, I was a joy to be around!

What do you do about those days?  How do you get back on track?

What you don’t want to do is excuse your behavior and try to do better tomorrow.  Excusing bad behavior never solves bad behavior.  “I was tired.”  “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”  “This stupid diet makes me grumpy.”  No excuses!  You don’t have control over the irritations, but you do have control over how you respond to them.

You don’t need to be excused.  You need forgiven.

So ask God… ask your spouse… ask your kids… and anybody else you grouched at… to forgive you.  Go back to the grocery store and find that poor cashier you grumbled at and ask her to forgive you.  It just doesn’t pay to let your irritations control you.  There’s always so much clean up you have to do later.  Remember that the next time you start letting those little irritations get the best of you, and choose to respond like Jesus.

Get rid of all bitterness… along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate… forgiving… just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32

If you would like to explore more about reconciliation, we encourage you to go to the following articles: “Forgiveness” by Patrick and Dwaina Six and “The Faces of Forgiveness Part 1 and The Faces of Forgiveness Part 2” by Harold and Bette Gillogly.

Forgiveness is also dealt with in our How to Handle Anger Webinar series found at: https://marriages.net/how-to-deal-with-anger-3-webinar-series/

Is Anger Getting You in Trouble?