Irritated? Agitated? Look Again...

My blessed, fantastic, fabulous husband who I love more than words could ever say, has been doing some extensive renovations in the basement of our home. This morning when he came out of the bathroom he commented that something was irritating his left eye and whatever it was was driving him crazy. I offered my wifely sympathy and encouraged him to put some Clear-Eye in it to see if that would help. I continued to go about about my early-morning ritual of getting myself physically ready for the day when to no-avail he returned to the bathroom letting me know that the drops didn't work. I finished what I was doing and then dug through the medicine cabinet and found some medicated drops that we had used too-long-ago that I care to admit for Mallary's eyes when she had pink-eye. (I know, I probably shouldn't have done that since I'm sure someone out there is thinking, "You could really cause some damage by using those," but when you're desperate and your man is ailing, you do whatever it takes...) I gently put one drop in, we let it sit, he dabbed his eye but oh, no, it was still there. I told him that I could try to invert his lid (yuck) and see if there was something underneath that was agitating it and he thought that would be a swell idea. I went to the computer, googled "how-to-invert-an-eyelid", read up on the proper techniques so that I wouldn't hurt him, got out a Q-Tip as it suggested and proceeded to invert "his lid"!?! Needless-to-say my first attempt didn't work and since he was still in visible distress, I tried a second time and PRAISE THE LORD He helped me accomplish the stomach-churning task. Once "his lid" was inverted I diligently scanned the tissue on the surface and saw what I thought was a small tear and gently, carefully touched the tip of the Q-Tip to it. I put "his lid" back in place, he closed his eye and blinked a few times and proclaimed, "It's gone! You got it! It's a new day!" :O) Lo and behold it was a microscopic piece of sawdust nearly naked to the eye that was causing such irritation, agitation and pain. Once it was removed, the whole day took on a new perspective...what once was intolerable immediately turned to praise and thanksgiving. I saved the "speck" on a piece of tape and as Kyle turned to leave for work, he said, "Now that's a blog post!" :o)


After he left and I sat down to spend some moments of solitude with the Lord before our home became busy and full of chatter, I stood amazed at how He took that experience and illustrated it to the devotion He had prepared for me to read and receive. God is SO good!

...being made servants of Jesus Christ, and our permission is never asked as to what we will do or where we will go. God makes us as broken bread and poured-out wine to please Himself. To be "separated to the gospel" means being able to hear the call of God (Romans 1:1). ...Woe be to the soul who tries to head in any other direction once that call has come to him. ~Oswald Chambers


What is it in our Christian lives that makes us irritated...
What is it that makes us agitated...
Maybe we need to "look again"...
Something's there that needs a Q-Tip to pluck it out...
Maybe it's because we are doing something God doesn't intend us to do...
Maybe we are going somewhere He has never instructed us to go...
Maybe we have unconfessed sin in our lives that is keeping us from hearing how He desires us to live...
Maybe we are insisting on our own way of being broken bread and poured-out wine rather than on His...
We can be assured that if our heart, mind and soul are irritated or agitated, something's there...


I often think that we as Christians just think and have accepted that this life we live will have those irritations and agitations yet the Lord is showing me over-and-over-and-over again that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He PROMISES that to us in His Word. Why don't we live it? When the yoke becomes difficult, we are trying to do or accomplish something He has never called us to do. When the burden becomes heavy, we are carrying something that He has never asked us to bear. It's at that moment that we need to "look again" and carefully search where the speck is that is causing us irritation, agitation and pain. Don't get me wrong, we are going to face uncertainty and trials in life yet even in the midst of those things, His yoke is easy and His burden is light...His grace is sufficient and His peace passes all understanding...He will work all things for our good and His glory!

If you're struggling today with irritation and agitation, ask the Lord what "speck" is there...He is faithful! He will show you! Once we remove it, we will declare,

"It's gone! You got it! It's a NEW day!"