I’ve seen articles, heard tips, and read books that tell how we should dump the troublesome people in our lives. They say we should rid ourselves of negative influence and surround ourselves with positive vibes. I don’t agree with that. Jesus did not avoid troublesome people. He was in the midst of them always. The reason I’m thinking about this today is because I let myself get drawn into some verbal conflicts and I should have known better than to do that. I allowed myself to get angry, hurt, and even loud over several discussions today and it wasn’t worth my effort or the waste of my emotions and the onset of stress.
I believe that God wants us to learn to play nice together here on earth. If we run into folks who push our buttons, or people who aggravate us, it’s up to us to learn to work with them or work around them, but not to collapse under them.
It doesn’t mean I cannot disagree honestly with someone. It just means that I should not let myself get upset over it. Especially, I should not get upset if nothing I say will change the situation. The prayer that the AA members have adopted, the Serenity Prayer, works well for these times. Although AA did not author that prayer, it has become a part of the lives of all its members, and even those, like me, who are not members. I should say it much more often than I do these days. It would make my life a lot more peaceful. There are a lot of things that I cannot change and I need to pray that prayer so I know which things they are.
So, I will end this day by promising myself to try to lessen my daily stress a little more through that prayer.
Thank you, Lord, for inspiring the author of the Serenity Prayer with words to guide us, and bless that person abundantly.
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