What causes irritation in your life? If you are anything like me, at times, it can be the slightest thing that irritates me. In last week's YOUR OPINION MATTERS POLL, I polled the readers the following question: "When do you find yourself to be most irritable?" The top 3 answers were:
1. 37% of those voting said that they are most irritated when someone breaks a promise to them.
2. 33% of those polled said that they are most irritated when they are at Wal-Mart!
3. 29% voted and said that they become irritated first thing in the morning, before they even have a cup of coffee!
To be irritable basically means that you are "near the point of a knife". In other words, you are not far from from the edge of the sword. You are locked, loaded and ready to aim or overreact. There are many reasons we arrive at this point, most likely it is not because of the cashier at Wal-Mart. Most likely, something has occurred to stress you out prior to arriving at Wal-Mart but your irritation just boils up and over when the cashier does not greet you politely! Stress can weigh us down, it drains our energy and gives us an open invitation to be down right cranky!
We all have a "bad" day here and there, but if you are irritable by nature, then possibly there is a problem. When under pressure, does love escape from your lips? When we walk in love, we will strive to be a joy and not a jerk.
Next time you feel irritable, ask yourself this: "Am I a calming breeze or am I just a storm waiting to happen?"
PROVERBS 16:32 " He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city."
Releasing love instead of irritation will channel patience and encouragement instead of anger and exasperation towards those around you. Choose today to react to those tough situations with love instead of irritation. It will make this world a happier place!
This was good Laurie and I really do feel that a lot of the time our "irritation" really is a choice we make. We can chose to let ourselves be vessels to show His love, or we can let our negative emotions control us instead. It isn't as easy as that of course, but in some ways it is. Have a wonderful day....Deb
ReplyDeletei needed this today! i'm a stay at home mom to 2 amazing little girls (ages 4 and 2). i admit that most days i get irritable and raise my voice and them (the good way of saying yelling)
ReplyDeletei'm convicted daily to be Gracious and compassionate,slow to anger, abounding in love. (Ps 103:8) like our LORD. yet i daily fall short.
thanks for this post, as a reminder that i'm not alone. regardless i'm not excused either.