Darn it! There Goes My Favorite Expression!

I've got a fickle electronic lock on my van door. It's the sliding door on the driver's side. At least once week when I press my unlock button on the car remote or the electronic button inside the car it fails to unlock. Sometimes locking and unlocking again will correct the problem, but every so often even that fails to work. The only way to get the door unlocked is the old fashioned way of reaching in and pulling up the lock.

Since this only occurs when I need to get in the back seat for some reason or the other, the electronic lock failure is inconvenient. Really inconvenient! Because of the inconvenience I've noticed that I've developed an attitude about the situation. Whenever it occurs, my mouth is quick to utter, "Darn it!" I have begun to express immediate frustration when the door lock fails.

Immediate frustration?

It's a minor problem with an electronic convenience, and when it fails I immediately express frustration!

I didn't get it. I didn't see the picture. I didn't put two and two together until the other day I heard my daughter use the same expression in the kitchen. As her father and mentor I was about to encourage her with a "It's not a big deal," "Let it go" and a "Don't let the little things bother you."

That was when the Holy Spirit hammered me. "Preach it brother." "Preach it directly to your heart."

There I was standing in my kitchen under the conviction that I had grown so use to convenience that even a small problem led to "immediate frustration."

James said to consider it all joy when you encounter various types of trials. How will I ever consider a big trial joy when just the small ones were leading to "immediate frustration?" Since that day the Holy Spirit has been leading me through a series of heart checks. He's is challenging me to remove the favorite phrase from use, not substituting it with another. Instead to simple accept the inconvenience as just that a little thing.

There will always be frustrations. It's a part of life. And as leaders we open ourselves up to more frustrations with the responsibilities we carry. Have you found yourself quick to be frustrated in recent days.

This leader had, and The Leader wants to correct it.