I don’t know about you, but I like to get things done in advance.
For instance, when it comes to booking airline tickets I like to do it well ahead of my departure date so that there are no surprises later on. In this case, I decided that today was the day to book my flights for my family and I to go to Kelowna for Christmas.
Usually I do this sort of thing online, but today I had to do things over the phone because I wanted to use some of my travel miles that I have been saving up for a couple of years. If you have done this before, you know the routine.
You call the number and then you hear this automated voice that says things are extremely busy and you will have to wait thirty minutes for a customer service agent.
Well, I chose the option to have them call me... and so I left my number. After awhile the phone rang and the voice asked, “Hello, how can I help you today?”
I explained to the person what I wanted, simply to get two tickets with my travel miles and then buy three cash tickets. But no matter how I explained what I wanted, how many reservations I wanted to make, the person on the other line just didn’t seem to understand what I was after.
This went on for several minutes, when I felt the frustration level on the inside getting higher and higher.
Then suddenly out of frustration I did something I am a little ashamed about and that is, I just hung up!
After I did so, I realized that wasn’t my best response I could have made.
What do you do when you get frustrated?
Maybe a family member, a person at work or some circumstance begins to push the right buttons causing frustration to bubble up and spill over into your life.
You have to admit it - frustration shows up and we let him in.
Frustration needs a place to stay, so we have him pull up a chair. Shouldn’t we be more careful in managing our thoughts and emotions? Jesus encourages us to learn to guard the gateway of our heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, “be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.” When you let the wrong thoughts run your life, then it’s easier for frustration to walk through the front door of our lives.
We need to set up a marker in our lives that reminds us that when frustration begins to show itself, that we train ourselves to immediately ask God to help us deal with it. God knows more about life than we do!
And aren’t we glad He does? Be honest. God knows more about this life and He will help us get through the circumstance that’s making us feel frustrated if we will leave them with Him.
We need to hear that God is in control and that His efforts are strongest when our efforts are the weakest. So take your frustrations to God.
The next time frustration threatens to overflow into your life like lava out of a volcano, before you erupt and say or do something you’ll later regret, take a step back and ask God to deal with your frustration.
Let God answer the front door when frustration comes knocking. By the way, I tried that phone call a second time and got my reservations taken care of.... this time, frustration was not an issue.
And it doesn’t have to be for you either.
This column was submitted by Tri-Community Baptist Church in Beiseker.
