Get out of my way!!!

This devotional, written by Leslie Snyder, hit the nail on the head for me this week. People, pretty much all of them, are just frustrating me!!! I know, in my head, that when this happens it's because I'm trying to pack too much in, putting my to do list in front of everything else.... That's in my head, in some logical, tucked away corner. Most of me just wants to holler "get out of my way!!"

But....


And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:23

Have you ever felt like this? Today, I want to scream! Not so much out of anger, but more out of frustration. People are in my way this week. That may sound a bit absurd, but today it feels true. I have a list of tasks to accomplish and people just keep getting in the way. I wish I could say these were divine interruptions, you know, opportunities to help someone, share an encouraging word or something a little more redeemable. But they aren't. These interruptions are just the normal, end of the week traffic backups, road closures, petty inconveniences, and unexpected bills that just rub you the wrong way, the way a small pebble stuck in your shoe during a day-long hike starts as an inconvenience and ends as a major pain.

I suspect you have experienced a day or two like this as well. I sure don't "feel" very holy today, very Christ-like or redeemed. I just feel very human. Honestly, it's days like today that my first thought is to shut down the computer, pack up my stuff and answer the call of one airline's catch phrase, "Wanna get away?" Yes! Yes! How soon can I go?

But, then, after having a chance to regain some composure and perspective, my thoughts return back home. Yes, people get in the way, but isn't that the way it's supposed to be? God created us to live in community, not isolation. We are meant to rub shoulders with each other, to need each other, to work alongside each other, whether we like, or even know, those around us. We are a communal people and like it or not, we share this earth with a few billion other people. And so, we're bound to have days like these.

And so, today we travel together as a fellow humans, friends along this messy journey of life, of faith, of sin and redemption. And as we travel, may we all remember the truth of Scripture that many of us learned as the Golden Rule from Matthew 7:12, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you."