I have a Pet Peeve! I know you are probably sitting there thinking, this nice lady that writes this column could never get upset with anyone. NOT! In fact if you ask my family they could probably give you a list of things that they would say I have a pet peeve about. 

A Pet Peeve is defined as “something that a particular person finds especially annoying.” 

Being raised in a minister’s home. My parents were far from perfect as most parents are, but one thing they taught me was to serve others. There wasn’t a home we moved into that, that in the process of discussing who would get what bedroom that my mother didn’t say “We need to plan for a guest room”  

Now I wouldn’t even consider my mom a great hostess because I rarely remember her even having guests over for dinner. But my mom was always ready to host an overnight guest. So much so that we planned our whole lifestyle around it down to how we slept.  Whether it was for a guest speaker coming into town that would be preaching at our church or for family that always lived far away from us, that mom prayed would come and visit but rarely did. 

I remember when we didn’t have an extra bedroom my parents got a trundle bed and put it in my room so there would be room for an extra guest if we needed it. That is just what I was raised with to serve others. 

So in this modern day society where communication is at our fingertips one of my biggest pet peeves is people who say their profession is to serve others but they never respond when you reach out to them. Nothing irritates me more than for me to text  message or call someone and they never reply or take hours or days to do so. 

Some people think God is like that. We pray or ask God for something and then it doesn’t happen they way we thought it would or we think He doesn’t respond and our feelings get hurt. We feel unloved and rejected by God. When the truth is God always answers. Sometimes His answer is Yes, sometimes His answer is no and other times His answers is wait a little while. 

Often times when we don’t get a yes or no answer right away. He is telling us to wait a little while. Waiting doesn’t have to be a waste. It can actually be a projective time of prayer and growing in a deeper relationship with God. It is a perfect time for us to draw closer to Him and we do that by patiently waiting and trusting Him and He works it out. 

In this modern day society where we can have information at our fingertips in seconds we often think we serve a God who should give us what we want and we want it right now. But we forget we serve a God who knows all and sees all, including what the future holds and more importantly we forget that He loves us more than we can even hope or imagine. In fact, His love is so extraordinary that honestly our minds can’t comprehend it because we have never been loved like that. 

We also have to remember God isn’t a genie in a bottle that we just call on when we want our wish to come true. That would actually make us the God. Which is more often what we end up really wanting after all it is our natural tendency to want our way and it is what the whole living by faith has to do with us giving up our well to follow His because He is God. 

Faith is trusting God. I think that brings me back to my pet peeve. I want my way and when I reach out to someone who says their life is serving others and I expect a timely response. Because bottom line they aren’t God and I don’t always know if I trust them, But I can trust the God they serve. 

I’ve had to realize that I can’t change people, but I am responsible for my response to them and in that I have to look to God above to help me be who he wants me to be and just because I believe people who are called to serve others should be available to others in a timely manner doesn’t mean everyone is called to that and I can rest in even though things don’t happen the way I plan them, I just rest and trust in the fact that God said He is working all things together for good to those that love Him and are called according to His purpose. Romans 28