Everybody has them…pet peeves…things that bug you. I know I do, and I’m sure I’m not alone. The older I get, though, it seems the list grows longer. I can’t go to the grocery store or even out to eat without coming face to face with some of them. I realize that a lot of what we see as “proper” is based on our own upbringing; but some things just ought to be common sense, shouldn’t they?
For example, I can’t help but huff and shake my head when I see teenagers wearing their britches down below their drawers and holding them up with one hand as they strut through the mall trying to look cool and smart. If they were really cool and smart, they’d buy pants that fit and wear a belt. I have a similar reaction to older women with the “no hose with heels” look. After a certain age, gals, it’s just not pretty. Or people who wear pajamas and fuzzy slippers to Walmart. Am I gonna have to issue a fashion citation?
Speaking of the huge retailer, why are there 25 checkout lanes at the super store and only five open at any given time? It drives me crazy when I’m in a hurry, there’s half a dozen people behind me, and the checkout person is yakking up a storm with her current customer. Then when I finally make it to the checkout she makes comments about my purchase. She doesn’t need to know why I’m buying three pounds of pork loin, ant paste, and a squeegee. Just ring it up!
I hate getting stuck behind the sweat-pantsed and curlered lady who’s bent over her shopping cart, pushing it with her elbows and strolling along as if no one else could possibly be trying to get through. Or how about when an entire hefty family commandeers a fleet of motorized shopping carts and rides four abreast…dad, mom, and two painfully overweight children. Is this some kind of family outing? Buy a Frisbee, for cryin’ out loud, and play with it.
I can’t stand those roller shoes. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve seen some kid nearly careening into a tottering old person. The parents usually react in one of two ways….either with cool indifference because the kid is just “oh, well, being a kid” or by correcting him with profanity at the top of their lungs. The former, by the way, are the same folks who, when Johnny does fall and break his arm due to his own roller shoes, will sue the mall for negligence. It makes my blood boil.
Why does my favorite country restaurant tell you biscuits and gravy come with your order, then bring one plate for the whole table to share? If I’m paying for biscuits and gravy, I want my own.
Can somebody please tell the restaurant association that it’s really annoying when the tables are wiped down only to leave them sopping wet so you have nowhere to lay your magazine, and that the crumbs which were on the table are now in your chair which no one ever bothers to wipe off?
After I’ve mopped the seat clean with my own clothes, then, oh look, here comes my waiter/waitress…big roaming tattoos up and down their arms, weird ink symbols on their hands and big rhinestone studs in their nose or lip that just look like a giant pustule. I’m trying to eat here! It’s nauseating and it should be outlawed.
After my food comes, my waitress disappears, and my stomach begins to settle, then comes the inevitable….people who let their kids run amuck in restaurants. Babies will cry and that’s understandable. What is not understandable is a parent allowing an eight year old to throw a screaming tantrum and not do one thing about it. I think Cracker Barrel should add some REAL old time, down home ambience by providing a woodshed and a razor strop for those situations.
And then of course the people who let their kindergartner escape and stand at the end of my table with her finger in her nose up to the third knuckle. I’m sorry, but it’s not cute…it’s gross. Make her sit down! What ever made me think I could eat out in peace?
Why do the waitresses at my steak place assume I don’t want my change?
Why does a boss call you at home to make a phone call for him when he has the number he wants dialed right in his hand? It’s either over-dependence or laziness. Or how about co-workers who leave for lunch, are gone for an hour, bring their salad back and sit for another hour eating and reading some trashy novel.
Have you ever gotten up at 4:00 a.m., traveled three hours to a church to see your favorite gospel group at a Sunday morning concert, found a seat on the front row, then had four rows of folding chairs placed in front of you? I have, and it irks the life out of me.
Why is my lipstick discontinued as soon as I find the perfect shade?
I could go on and on with things that bug me, and so could you. But the fact is, we’re not the first ones to be “bugged”……literally.
The Bible is full of references to annoying “bugs”. There’s the ant, bee, beetle, caterpillar, flea, fly, gnat, grasshopper, hornet, cankerworm, horse leech, lice, palmer worm, moth and the most destructive, the locust.
The locusts came in huge droves that blackened the sky and sent people running for shelter. They would swoop down upon the fertile fields and destroy the crops and vegetation. The swarm was just thousands of individual locusts that banded together and chewed and gnawed their way through the landscape for miles leaving nothing but destruction. Lots of little things that brought about tremendous damage.
Enter John the Baptist. The Bible says his meat was locust. Now, I’ve been pretty hungry in my day, but a locust has never looked good to me. I just can’t hear Andy Griffith saying, “Hmmm-mmm, don’t that locust look gooood. Opie, now you let Aunt Bee have the leg.” Nope. To me, it’s not dinner. It’s a bug. But John the Baptist ate them. He ate what bugged him. He literally devoured the devourer.
It’s easy to let all the little things of life that annoy you get the better of you. One little annoyance, then two, then a whole swarm of little stuff that bugs the daylights out of you can devour your day, your mood, and set the tone for your interactions with people. The more you dwell on it, the more things irritate you, and soon your list is as long as mine was earlier in this article. If you’re not careful, it’s not long before your mood sends family and friends ducking for cover and destroys anything valuable or productive that could come of the day.
Philippians 4:8 tells us, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be ANY virtue, and if there be ANY praise, think on these things.
It’s amazing how just concentrating on God’s goodness can get you refocused and able to appreciate the good, cope with the bad, and ignore the stuff that just doesn’t matter anyway.
Gotta “fly” for now.
Janice Crow
Author: AGM
| Author's Website: http://absolutelygospel.com/
Written: 08/07/2008
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Category: Janice Crow
Comments: 2
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Thank-you for this article. I really needed to be reminded about God's goodness. I think I was beginning to let the 'locusts' devour my peace in the Lord.
Thank you for your kind comments. If you're a new reader, Welcome! Janice Crow
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