Irritations

For the past few days, simple things that I have tried to accomplish have turned into - to put it mildly - big irritations.

Our refrigerator began to die about a month ago. I did the "thaw-out and restart" thing several times after it had frozen up. It would work for about a week, then freeze up again. Last week it kept turning on and off, becoming very unpredictable. Finally, after talking to several others, we headed to Lowe's and picked out a new fridge. It was to be delivered on Monday around noon and the old one hauled off.

Not so quick. We get a message to call back to the store. They're closed, so we call in the morning. They didn't put the fridge on the truck because it had a dent in it. So, I go look at the dent and pulled a Dave Ramsey and asked how much they would take off for the dent. $150. Cool. But no fridge until Tuesday.

As it would happen, they show up to deliver in the evening while I'm at a meeting. They refuse to hook up the ice maker due to the copper tubing that was used by the old fridge. So I have to go to the store and get new parts for that. Needless to say, I finally got that fixed tonight, so I've been dealing with that fridge for the past three days when I thought I wouldn't have to touch it and it would be finished on Monday.

I've had a similar deal with the church van. The A/C hasn't been working right, so we need to get it fixed before kids go to camp this coming Sunday. We take it to the shop last Friday and get word that it is ready on Monday. We pick it up, the A/C works but the vents aren't working properly. So we take it back on Tuesday. We pick it up today and now A/C not working. The compressor I guess has gone out. So it's still there. . .

I remember reading (I think it was in the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren) that if I need to grow in a certain area, God will allow you to experience the exact opposite situation. For example, if I need to grow in patience, I will not learn patience if all the traffic lights are green. But I will learn patience at the red ones.

As I look at these two "irritations" - I believe I'm learning patience and the fact that I'm not in control. I believe that if you are not learning, that you are not growing. If you are not growing, you are not becoming more like Jesus.

So, I have to look at it like this: I am grateful for these irritations. Without them, I most likely wouldn't be learning. What are you learning through your irritations?