Sometimes, People Get On My Nerves

I find myself getting frustrated with people every now and then.

When I'm driving, I wish people would use their turn signals.  Travel would be so much simpler and the roads would be so much safer if people would simply take a second and let others know they are turning left or right.  That gets on my nerves. 

When I'm sitting in a movie theater, I wish people in front of me would quit looking at their cell phones.  The light from their phones shines right into the eyes of everyone sitting behind them.  That gets on my nerves.

When things like these happen, I find myself tensing up and wanting to vocalize my frustration.  I imagine really throwing out some verbal zingers.  But normally I just keep it to myself, shake my head, and move on.

When I calm down after a minute or two, I have to remind myself of some important truths.  And maybe if people sometimes get on your nerves, these could be helpful for you to consider too.  We all ought to keep these in mind...

#1  Everybody can be irritating at times...including us.  The older I get, the more I realize I have my own habits, quirks, and idiosyncrasies that can grate on people.  I'm just as weird as the next guy.  And before you get too smug, remember you're weird too.  Ha!  Ha!  We all are.  None of us are perfect.  All of us can be aggravating occasionally.  So let's stay humble and avoid putting ourselves above other people.

#2  Patience with others is a must.  Look, I get it.  We're emotional beings that can't help but feel frustrated at times.  That's normal.  But we still can choose to stay calm and conduct ourselves in the right way.  James 1:19 tells us "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry."  Before we make matters worse by shooting off at the mouth inappropriately or blowing our stack aggressively, let's slow down, take a couple deep breaths, collect our thoughts, and maybe even whisper a prayer.  Why?  Because when we do this, we have a much better chance of reacting wisely instead of saying or doing something that we later will regret.

#3  God sets the best example.  Always remember how He deals with each of us.  Psalm 103:8 tells us, "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love."  Did you catch that?  God doesn't flip out with knee-jerk reactions.  Not at all!!  He gives us time and opportunities to learn and grow.  He shows us grace.  And He loves us immensely.  That's how God handles us, and that's how we need to handle each other.

Yeah, sometimes, people get on my nerves.  And I'm pretty certain the same thing happens to you.  During those moments, let's stay humble and remember that we're not perfect either.  Let's stay calm and be patient.  And let's look to God for help in handling people the way He does.  If we do these things, we will handle stressful moments a whole lot better.

PS - But please use your turn signal when driving and stay off your phone during movies.  Ha!  Sorry, I couldn't resist.  :-)