EGR

God has taught me a lot lately about character. One thing he has taught me is that a lot of the most annoying people in our lives...you know the ones, they're the ones that you dread seeing in the mornings; the ones you wish would just walk on past and not speak to you; the ones that you honestly wish would get a job elsewhere or move, but you would never say it out loud because it would not be a Christian thing to say. Well, He has shown me that these people are in our lives for a very specific reason (again, I emphasize that God has a sense of humor), and that reason is to develop our character and to help us to become more like Christ. I never really thought about it like that until we did the Purpose Driven Life study, but it is quite true. Although, some of these people I think God puts in our paths just for a good laugh. Rick Warren refers to these people as EGR- Extra Grace Required. Seems all the EGR's are in MY life right now! My husband is one of them :-) And I work with many of them, but there is one woman in particular at work that requires a massive amount of grace....and tongue-biting. I won't elaborate because then I would be gossipping, but just as an example, the other day (remember, this is a 50 year old church going woman), she told me that she went on lunch and saw an old homeless lady and she couldn't get out of her car because she had too much money in her purse. Then she told me that she couldn't walk inside the McDonald's that she was parked at and going into anyways and buy her a burger off the dollar menu because the $200 she had in her purse was for her to get her hair and nails done that night. But it was ok for the lady to starve... So these are the stories I hear EVERY DAY. That's just the type of person she is, and it drives me CRAZY! So, God is showing me that this is my "opportunity" (very funny, God) to develop my character and love her the way Christ does...in spite of her imperfection. It's hard, because she angers me. (My pet peeve: blatant selfishness)It's easy to want to go off on her and tell her how she SHOULD act, but that's not what God wants me to do. Now, in other situations, I may need to confront her and deal with things, but that hasn't come up yet. "God teaches us love by putting unlovely people around us." -Rick Warren. Rick also talks about how you become what you are committed to, which is very true. If you're committed to your job, you become whatever that profession is. If you're committed to drugs, you become an addict. If you're committed to your marriage, you become a good spouse. If you're committed to your kids, you become a good parent. I don't know about you, but I want to become like Jesus. And I'm nowhere near close enough yet. What are you committed to?