Little frustrations: how to fight back

IT’S THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.

I came up with this one. So I get a free, signed copy of one of my books.

Yeah, right. That wouldn’t be weird.

Tell you what: First Stateside soul to post a comment of reply to this blog entry gets the free book.

Here’s my question:

It’s the little irritations of life that mess with my head. Is there anything I can do about it, other than raise a voice, two-step a war dance, and pitch a fit?

I ask that question because I think I’ve discovered at least part of the answer.

Embrace the irritation. Give that sucker a hug.

I know, we can’t do that with all irritations.

But it works with some.

Messy house

When my kids were young, I would come home from work to a living room floor so covered in toys, coloring books, and crayons that I had to step carefully.

It irritated me.

Until it dawned on me that one day the floor would be neat and clear. But the kids would be gone.

So I decided to accept that this was my “messy floor” time of life.

The kids are married and gone now. The floor is neat, except when Buddy the Dog comes inside after a rain, dragging his dirty paw prints with him. Someday Buddy will be gone, too.

Pink paint in the car

My Bible study group painted the deck for an elderly man several months ago. He liked pink.

Afterward, when I took one of my fellow volunteers home, a best buddy of mine, he got a few streaks of paint on the dashboard of my old minivan.

I noticed it weeks later, and told him about it. He offered to clean it. But I said I like it. The van is old, with over 200,000 miles on it; it’s a van I’ll keep till it dies, or I do. In the meantime, the paint reminds me of my friend, and the good thing we did that day. I smile when I see it.

Chewed shoelace

A few days ago, while I was dog-sitting my daughter’s pup, Tucker the Border Collie, I noticed that on one of the shoes I was wearing, about 6 inches of my shoelace had been chewed off.

I had been pickpocketed by a dog.

I hadn’t noticed him taking it.

I’ve thought about replacing the lace, but every time I tie my shoe, I think of Tucker and my daughter. So I’ll keep it for now.

Get the idea?

It’s a different way of thinking. I discovered it many years ago.

It took some time for me to reprogram my brain, but the new approach really does work a lot of the time.

It’s possible to find good in something that seems not so good.

“Every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good” (Romans 8:28 The Message.)

That might be a slight exaggeration. Either of The Message’s interpretation of Paul, or of Paul’s take on life. But I’ll stake my stack of giveaway books on this quote:

“If you are cheerful, you feel good; if you are sad, you hurt all over,” (Proverbs 17:22 CEV).

When I have a choice—and I often do—I think I’ll choose cheerful over sad.

Momma didn’t raise no dummy.