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You know all my pet peeves, Lord -
even those I've yet to discover...
You know the little things that others do
that tick me off, light my fuse
and push my buttons...
You know the things that irritate and aggravate,
exasperate, infuriate and agitate
me -
as if I were the center of the universe
(whom all should handle with kid gloves
especially when it comes to things, the little things,
that grate on me and on
my way of doing things,
my way of saying things,
my way of wanting things to go...
My pet peeves, Lord: my bugbears,
my personal vexations, my petty hang-ups,
and my obsessions
reveal me as self-centered, demanding,
proud and conceited
and make me overbearing, smug and pompous -
not to mention eminently unlikable!
So,
help me see my pet peeves, all of them, Lord,
help me see them for what they usually are:
arrogant presumptions about how the world would be
had it been made as I would have it...
Make me humble, Lord, and modest,
accepting of my neighbors' faults
respectful of their ways of doing things and saying things,
the little things,
that differ from my own...
Relieve me of any notion that my way is the best way,
that my first thought is brilliant,
that my way is the only way,
that I am always right...
Let no small matters come between
my neighbor and myself
for when they do, then clearly, Lord,
they come twixt you and me...
Amen.
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A gospel-based meditation and prayer on feeling annoyed, irritated and peeved:
ReplyDeleteJesus, in lots of ways you show your human DNA in gospel stories. Ways I often struggle to understand.
Help me keep perspective when I call you "true God, true man."
If I ignore, downplay or try to explain away your occasional impatient snapping reactions at the slowness or inattention of your followers, am I creating a distorted, partial idea of who you are out of pious intentions to focus exclusively on your perfect divinity?
In Luke 9:41 you say, "How much longer do I have to put up with you?" In Mark 8: 14-21 your annoyance is obvious, too. Your disciples sometimes mirror that annoyance, as they when they implore you to send the nagging pagan mother away, Do they (and I too) hear a sense of peek in your voice when you first call her a dog, but then finally relent and do as she asks? (Mark 7:24-30)
Help me understand and accept what you show: that getting agitated is not per-se self-center or sinful.
Give me insight to distinguish the moral difference between human expressions of irritation over delays experienced or over mistakes I make, and the other ones that are motivated by self-centeredness.
Help me to stop subtly venerating a false icon of perfectionism by acting as if getting peeved, annoyed and irritated is always sinful.
Help me appreciate that persons who in the past fostered in me a perfectionist view are good people. Out of good intention they unwittingly reinforced my youthful scrupulous mind. As I begin my eightieth year, strengthen my will not to resent them. Bless them and me in your mercy.
Help me daily to remember your own human, balanced reactions to unpleasant events.
Help me discover ways to handle a shared DNA in ways you demonstrate in gospel stories.
Thank you for helping me recognize and cope with the "annoyance DNA" I now realize I share with you.
Amen