Friday, January 13, 2012

do you have to be rude?

i can't stand when people are rude.

it's a trigger for me. it pushes my buttons.

it makes my sense of grace fly right out the window.

i hate when people think that a sense of being right overrules a sense of being nice.

when they feel like the world owes them something.

when they think that they're better than someone else.

it's a type of arrogance that makes me mad.

it makes me see red.

it makes me forget i'm a Christian.

and the devil knows that.

and God knows that.

and so the tests keep coming.

the rude people come out of the woodwork.

my patience wears thin.

because the devil wants me to lose my temper.

and God wants me to win the fight.

and sometimes i do win.

but more often i lose.

because i don't see the good in people when they're rude.

i don't see a child of God when they're being ugly.

i don't see the face of Jesus in their arrogance.

but then God doesn't see it in me either.

not when i'm frustrated at them. not when i'm talking about them. not when i'm judging them.

and surely not when i'm trying to get in the last word.

or trying to prove that i'm right.

or worried more about my rights then His request.

because He has asked me to be slow in becoming angry.

He has asked me to be patient.

He has asked me to see the plank in my own eye.

and i do see it but i don't want to admit it.

because if i admitted it, then i'd have to admit that i'm arrogant at times.

i'd have to admit that i'm not always nice.

i'd have to admit that sometimes i'm the rude one.

and i'd hate to admit any of that.

and i think that's why God keeps testing me.

because He needs to get me from where i am to where i need to be.

and in order to change me, He needs me to see the problem.

He needs me to be disgusted with it.

He needs me to hate it enough in others that i refuse to allow it in myself.

because i can't stand when people are rude.

and i can't stand it when i'm rude either.

and God needs someone to change.

and i think He's looking at me.








2 comments:

  1. Love this one! It is something we all struggle with in ourselves and other people. I think you are on the right path that allows you to move from anger with those rude people to feeling sorrow for them.

    Keep planting seeds of kindness, even in those rude people. You may not see that seed sprout, but you can still plant it. And I don't know anyone that is kinder than you to do it.

    -Tim

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think it's when we focus on their rudeness rather than seeing/remembering them as people with problems/worries/ill health, etc that we lose ourselves bc we're only reflecting at
    how we feel in that moment. Usually, when we are well and happy, we are able to see that and feel sympathy and concern for them and it brings us up. It's when I'm busy judging someone else that I'm not kind. Liz

    ReplyDelete

Dear younger me: you will never fit in

Dear Younger Me, You will never fit in.  But you will be ok. I know it's hard. Especially when you're young. Especially when you wan...