Tip for Tuesday: When People Annoy...

I meant for this title to sound ominous, like some kind of TV show-- "When sharks attack!" or "When neighbors snap!"-- only, "When people annoy!"


I'm a teacher.  The only other job I think that would cause one to get more annoyed would be stay-at-home-mom.  Or maybe day-care worker.  Because unless you work with children all day, you're probably not as annoyed as we are.  Adults are also annoying, and one could even make a case for saying they're worse, because they should know better, but I'm going to say that dealing with children every day for at least eight hours is pretty annoying.


I mean, it's rewarding too, but let's just focus on one thing at a time, shall we?


They whine, they hit, they bite, they snap, they ignore, they interrupt, they're rude, they're lazy... and those are just the good ones!  Kidding.  So what do you do when you're annoyed?  I know that my first, sinful instinct is to annoy in return or snap at them verbally.  Maybe retort sarcastically.  Sometimes even raise my voice.


What is the right thing to do when you're annoyed?  Pray.  I know this seems unbelievably obvious, but how many of us actually do this?  I can't even remember when I heard this first, but many godly individuals have told me that the best way to stop being annoyed by someone is to pray for them consistently.  Then, when you bring their issues and your own heart's issues before the Lord, your heart changes towards them and you genuinely will begin to love and care for them and what they may be dealing with.  How can you be permantently annoyed at someone you pray for consistently?  It won't happen.


I'm going to start trying my best to do this.  When that child asks me for the fifth time what page we're on, or the student gives me attitude, or someone asks me "what are we doing today," I'm going to try and turn my annoyance to prayer.  Especially since my eyes should be off myself anyway.




xoxo, A