“Be truly glad, for there is wonderful joy ahead—even though you must endure many trials for a little while. Trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being purified just like fire purifies gold—and your faith is far more precious than mere gold.” (pp 1Pet.2:6-7)
Heavenly Father, I’m embarrassed to even speak of my irritants as “trials,” because I didn’t go to sleep hungry or thirsty last night. Unlike 50% of the world, I don’t have to live on $2.50 a day. I’m not among 40% of the world’s population without indoor plumbing. My “trials” are more walking in a wading pool of non-eternal, circumstantial-piranha nibbling away at my joy, energy, and peace.
Even among my creature comforts, I still need your grace, Father. Help me and my friends honor you in the daily-ness of life in bodies with aging joints, leaky memories, and limitations that need to be honored. May we love well among fellow sinner-saints who, like us, have common stressors and irritation-triggering stories.
Free us to keep a core of peace and an attitude of kindness: When air-conditioners break, flights are delayed/canceled, and animals tear into our Amazon delivery bag and eat our favorite cereal. (That happened to me last night). When pets pee on the carpet, black mold spores find a home in our home, and dear friends move several states away. When our exercise routine gets interrupted by plantar fasciitis (me), and our “peaceful, easy, feeling” gets interrupted by world leaders who act like history is a global game of Monopoly with real money.
Father, in all the ordinary disappointments and to-be-expected inconveniences of life—as well as in the crazy-making events and anger-worthy stuff, we want to honor you, reveal the beauty of Jesus, live our lives consistent with the great truths and riches of the Gospel. Yea, verily, and So Very Amen.
