The greatest fear that miners experience is the fear of "pneumoultramicroscopicsiliconvolcaniconiosis". In Japanese it is simply "haijinbyo". It is more commonly called black lung. Miners inhale tiny carbon molecules and fine coal dust into their lungs and finally the stuff accumulates so much that it suffocates them.
Yep - The Small Stuff.
Most of us would agree that part of our biggest problems is the little things in life that get us down. Have you ever had "One Of Those Days"? Fifteen minor problems equal one bad attitude. They just all add up. It gets to you. The frustrations.
So I guess the real test of your Christianity is how you handle the little things in life. That's the bottom line. How you handle the little, insignificant irritations, interruptions and frustrations of life. In Philippians 2 it speaks to what makes Christians different from anybody else is attitude. Your attitude toward the little things in life. Philippians 2:14-15 "Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe."
So how do you handle frustration?
According to the Bible, you don't get mad and blow off. You don't hold it in and blame everybody else. You don't become an Eyore in a world of gloom. What can you do?
You bring it into focus.
You keep it in a right perspective.
You treat it for what it is, simply a minor irritation. It's no big deal.
It's not worth getting mad about. See it as it really is.
It's not the end of the world; it's simply a temporary setback.
So you reduce it down to size.
The only way you can treat all stuff as small stuff is to see it from God's perspective. If I look at it, it may seem like a major crisis, everything's falling apart. But when you see it from God's point of view, His perspective, then it comes into focus. Wisdom is seeing life from God's point of view.
Five practical steps on how to handle the frustrations of life.
Here are five simple steps on dealing with the little things in life:
1. Ask yourself, "Did I cause it?" When you've got an irritation, when you're facing a frustration, ask yourself, "Did I bring this on myself? Why am I frustrated? Did I cause it?" The Bible says in Galatians, "You will reap what you sow." Many times in life we are frustrated simply because we brought them on ourselves. We don't have anybody else to blame. We're reaping what we've sown. You have to be honest.
You are frustrated because you procrastinated! You knew 6 months ago that the term paper was due but you waited till the night before. You run out of gas. But who's to blame? You simply didn't prepare. You didn't stop to get gas. So you don't blame anybody else, you're reaping what you've sown.
2. Ask yourself, "What can I learn from it? How would Jesus respond to it?" Use the irritation as an opportunity to grow in character. Use the frustration as an opportunity to be more like Christ. Use it, don't just endure it. How does God produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives? Usually He places us in the complete opposite situation. If God wants to teach you love, He will put you around unlovely people. It's easy to love people who are lovely. If God wants to teach you joy, He will allow you times of sorrow where you can learn inner joy. If God wants to teach you peace, He will allow you in a situation which is total chaos so you can have inner peace. If God wants to teach you patience, He knows you will learn it best in long slow-moving lines or in rush hour traffic. We learn the fruit of the Spirit by being placed in the opposite situation.
If we don't learn it in a little trial, God will give us another one. The next time, it will be bigger. Obviously, the little trial didn't work. So if I have a problem with anger, and God allows an irritation in my life to teach me how to overcome anger, but instead of learning from it, I blow up, instead of giving it to God, I blame God, instead of saying, "God, help!", I say, "God, why?" God says, "You didn't learn, so we'll just allow another situation in your life." So then He allows another irritation but this time the irritation is bigger because the little one didn't work. If you blow up there and don't learn the lesson, He'll allow it again; an even bigger one. Until finally you come to a nuclear bomb size irritation and you say, "God, Help!" and then He has your attention. Then you learn. Once you've learned that spiritual quality, He's going to start working on another quality.
3. Thank God in the situation. You say, "But you don't know my problems!" The two hardest verses in the Bible to obey are Philippians 4:6 "Worry about nothing" and 1 Thessalonians 5:18 "In everything give thanks." It does not say, "For everything give thanks." It says "In everything give thanks." You don't have to be thankful for a bad situation. But you can be thankful in a bad situation. If somebody gets into an accident, you don't say, "Thank You, God, for this accident!" or a loved one dies, "Thank You, God, that they died." But you can thank God in the situation. Because you know that He can take the negative and, if you give it to Him, somehow and someway, at some time, He can bring good out of it -- turn a crucifixion into a resurrection.
On top of that, you thank God in the situation because that frustration, that irritation, that inconvenience, that interruption, may be a blessing in disguise. Opportunities love to come to us disguised as irritations or inconveniences. They don't wear a sandwich sign that says, "I am a blessing. Notice me. I am a tremendous opportunity. Take advantage of me." In retrospect you say, "Now I see what God was trying to do!" or if you responded correctly you say, "Now I know why God allowed it."
In Japanese, the symbol for the word "crisis" (kiki), is made up of two words -- "danger" (kiken) and "opportunity" (kikai). You put them together and you get "crisis". In every crisis there is both danger and opportunity. In every frustration, there is irritation and opportunity.
4. Learn to laugh in adversity. The Bible says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine." The Bible says that we are to "Rejoice in the Lord always." Laughter is the shock absorber of life. It lightens the load, it makes life more manageable. A sense of humor is God's prescription for anger and frustration. You cannot laugh at a frustration and blow up at the same time. Learn to laugh at them.
If you want strength for the frustrations, the irritations, the interruptions, the inconveniences of life, learn to laugh again. Don't sweat the small stuff and realize it's all small stuff from God's viewpoint.
5. Ask God to fill you with His love. Why? Because 1 Corinthians 13 says "Love is never irritable." Love is never self serving. We get irritated, frustrated, mad, up-tight because we think everyone and everything has to revolve around us. When it doesn't, we get irritated. It's an ego problem. We think everyone else's schedule, everyone else's time, everyone else's energy revolve around our schedule. So when someone interrupts it, we're offended -- "How dare you interrupt my life!"
Love concentrates on the other person. A loving person would realize that the clerk has probably had a tough day. The reason we get uptight is we want to be the center and we think everything has to revolve around us.
When you are filled with love, absolutely nothing can irritate you. But when you're filled with anger, absolutely anything can irritate you. The difference is what's inside of you. That's what makes the difference, not the situation. The difference is how you choose to respond.
When the world puts the squeeze on you, what comes out of your life? When you get in a squeeze, when you get under pressure and everything is not going as planned, what comes out of your life? If you are filled with resentment, if you are filled with rebellion, if you are filled with an ego attitude, those things are going to come out. And you're going to blow up, resist, resent. But if you're filled with Christ's love, when the world puts pressure on you, His love is going to come out.
The above is paraphrased from an online sermon I happened upon, because I was feeling "frustrated". Hope this gives you some perspective for your week. To Read the Sermon in it's entirety ....Go Here...
If you have any questions, or need a "stepping stone" let us know!
May you find the Blessings in your Frustrations,
Love YA!
Mike & Amy K
RPC YAs
No comments:
Post a Comment