Annoying People

Annoying people …. they just do not go away. No matter how you try to avoid them they seem to jump out at you when you least expect them. Today I have been working on a grant. A grant needs uninterrupted time to research and write. Today it was one interruption after another. I found my frustration growing with each interruption. Then there was the big interruption.

I have a co-worker that I struggle with. He is like a bull in a china shop. He usually just blows through and does what seems right to him. Unfortunately it usually leaves a wake of destruction in terms of people damage behind him. I know that I have been mad enough at him to visualize lobbing a few of the polished rocks I keep on my desk at him. He always seems totally unaware of the turmoil he is creating. He rushes from one thing to another and leaves the rest of us to somehow try to put all the pieces back together again. I have begun to dread my interactions with him.

Today was like that, I was trying to bring all my thoughts in focus and do some solid research writing when my assistant came in rolling her eyes at me with him in tow. He was talking, talking, TALKING. As he was rushing through telling me what he was going to do, and not pausing for breath to allow any outside input, I found my hand caressing the largest of my agates. It is about the size of a potato and has a nice satisfying weight to it. I was trying hard to maintain a neutral listening expression but what I wanted to do was leap over the top of my desk and smack him hard with something …. anything … the agate would work just fine.

The reality is that smacking him would not help. He is what he is and I somehow need to learn to love him even if he never changes. Scripture is very clear about what God’s expectations are of me.

“But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” Matthew 5:44

I think the answer to this frustration will be found as I diligently pray for this man. Not pray that God will fry him, but pray that God will guide him, bless him and fill his day with joy. There is no better time to start than now …. but first perhaps I should move the rocks off my desk.

Just Connie