“Irritating. Aggravating. Exasperating. Infuriating.”

A thought by Max Lucado from his book, How Happiness Happens (p. 31). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

I’m sure you have some things that really get to you, don’t you?

Max says, “If only people would stop behaving like people. If only people would wear deodorant, use mouthwash, close their mouths when they chew, quiet their screaming babies, and clean up their trashy lawns.”

He goes on, “There is a way the world should run. And when others behave in ways we don’t like, we call that a pet peeve. Not a colossal divide or hostile rivalry or legal violation. Just a pet peeve. A pet (smallish, personal, individual) peeve (quirk, peculiarity). A pet peeve.”

But later he says, “Joy is such a precious commodity. Why squander it on a quibble?

“The phrases we use regarding our pet peeves reveal the person who actually suffers. He ‘gets under my skin’ or ‘gets on my nerves,’ or she is such a ‘pain in my neck.’ Whose skin, nerves, and neck? Ours! Who suffers? We do! Every pet peeve writes a check on our joy account.”

He continues, “Suppose a basket of Ping-Pong balls represents your daily quota of happiness. Each aggravation, if you allow it, can snatch a ball out of your basket.

“•​  He left his dirty clothes on the floor. A joy ball vanishes.
•​  She waits until the last minute to apply her makeup. Plop! There goes another one.

•​  I don’t know why people get tattoos.

•​  I don’t know why my tattoo is his business.

•​  Big trucks shouldn’t take up two parking places!

•​  Preachers shouldn’t grow facial hair!

“There go the joy balls, one by one, until the joy is gone.

He then says, “How can you help people smile if you have a hole in your happiness basket? You can’t. For this reason the apostle Paul said, ‘Be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Eph. 4:2 NIV).

“The apostle’s word for patient is a term that combines ‘long’ and ‘tempered.’ The short-tempered person has a hair-trigger reaction. The patient person is ‘long tempered.’ The word tempered literally means ‘taking a long time to boil.’ In other words, not quickly overheated. Irks come with life, but they need not diminish life.”

And that is so true, isn’t it? 

Yes, yes!