Irritants are burdens

Are you being an irritant or surrounded by irritants? A telling question indeed, for many of the things that actually irritate us about others are things that irritate us about ourselves! Mom always used to say, "It takes one to know one" and she was pretty 'spot-on' with that observation. If you are able to see such things as kindness, goodness, and graciousness in others FIRST, above all their other traits, you are likely doing pretty well allowing God to develop those traits deep within your heart, as well.

Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation. (Proverbs 3:3-4)

Irritants are burdens none of us want to carry - much less emulate in our lives. I found it amazing that one tiny 'burr' under the saddle blanket could cause a horse to act up so much. They become downright 'agitated' by that tiny burr! How many times do we find ourselves getting irritated by the 'small stuff' in life? When we find that happening, we might want to consider how much 'weight' we are applying to the 'irritant'. 

The horse doesn't consider the size of the burr, he just feels the pressure of all the weight placed against it! Sometimes we apply way too much 'weight' to the 'burr'. We allow other pressures to build up around that one tiny 'irritant' and then we are downright 'agitated' by such a small thing. Most of the stuff we 'wig out' over is really not all that 'insurmountable' - it just gets us 'amped up' because we don't want to admit how much weight we are carrying ourselves over that same 'insurmountable' thing in our own lives.

Some of us would do well to focus on the 'weight' of all that guilt and shame we are carrying over that 'burr' in our lives. When we unburden ourselves of that unnecessary weight, the burr becomes obvious and easier to remove. We can look for the 'burr' under the saddle all we want, but until we remove the saddle we have no idea where to even look! We just feel the pressure and know something isn't right. When another comes along with a similar 'burr', we react. God is asking us to let kindness and graciousness be our response by getting rid of all that stuff piled upon our own 'burr'. Just sayin!