Normally, whatever normal means, I don’t get agitated by many things. I can keep my cool under the most bizarre circumstances.
I like to have my work done on time, and I work very hard to do just that. But for some reason, I lost the rhythm of my work, and it wasn’t going like I would like it to go. So I must say, I was getting agitated for the first time in a long time.
It was a moment of frustration as I tried to unwind from some of the problems that had developed in my projects. In the middle of that, the telephone rang.
For a moment, I thought of not answering the phone and just letting it ring. If it was something important, they would leave a message, and I could get back to them.
For some reason, my autopilot kicked in, and without much thought, I answered the phone.
“The warranty on your car is just about to expire,” the person on the phone said. Then he began the long speech about what he could do to renew my auto warranty.
When I came to, I realized it was some kind of a scam, so I told him I wasn’t interested and then hung up the phone.
It wasn’t going very well, and I couldn’t straighten out the problem, but I thought I was close. It took me much longer, and I didn’t know what else to do.
Then the telephone rang again. I tried not to answer, but in my state of mind at the time, I wasn’t in control, and I automatically answered the phone.
According to the person on the phone, all I had to do was answer a few questions, and they could sign me up for additions to my Medicare at no cost to me.
I replied as calmly as possible and told him I was not the least bit interested in what he had to offer. Then I hung up the phone and went back to my job.
Then the telephone rang. Again!
At this point, my agitation level was beginning to rise. It’s been a long time since I’ve experienced this kind of thing.
As I answered the phone, the person on the other end asked me a whole lot of questions about my health.
At that point, I let loose all my snarly attitudes at the time. I was at the point where I could not control my snarlyitis. I gave him a piece of my mind that I hadn’t used in a long time.
I angrily hung up the phone, turned around, and there was The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage looking at me with both hands on her hips.
“You sure had a snarly attitude on that phone call. Who in the world were you talking to?”
Thinking about this it occurred to me that sometimes people need to be responded to with a snarly attitude.
I then remembered what Jesus said in John 8:44, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
Sometimes people just need to hear the truth.
Dr. James L. Snyder
Ocala, Fla.
Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, Fla. with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone (352) 216-3025, email jamessnyder51@gmail.com and his website is www.jamessnyderministries.com.