monday looms in the very near distance

Do you ever feel like your life is full of conflict??  I do - from the moment I get into the car in the morning and fight my way through traffic for 45 mins to an hour to get to work, to the moment I get to work (which obviously as an attorney my day is full of conflict) to the moment I get back into the car for another hour of being cut off, honked at, and yes, sometimes yelled at -  my life is full of conflict.  Needless to say, by the time I get in the door at the end of the night I feel like someone picked up a big steaming bucket of mud and dumped it on me.

And this routine (sometimes better . . . sometimes worse) continues for the next 5 days (sometimes more).  I would like to say that all that conflict doesn't affect me or my personal life, but of course it does.   It seems like I handle the conflict fine while it is happening, but the results of living with that type of conflict seem to come out at the most ridiculous moments. 

For example, Thursday night I got home, started making dinner, I got into the cupboard and there were like 4 bags of super huge marshmellows blocking all of my canned goods, I pushed the bags out of they way and the bages must have been open because when I moved them they all spilled all over the kitchen.  This is what made me lose it . . . me standing in the midsts of pink and white jumbo marshmellows . . . and of course I took my frustration out on my spouse.  But really . . . were the mooshy marshmellows beneath my feet, what was getting me down?? No . . . it was all the problems during the day that really got to me.  (I am the problem solver thats what I do, but some problems take a long time to solve).

Today, at church the sermon was about dealing with conflict.  Obviously, I felt it was very relevant to how I have been feeling.  These are the verses we studied today, and I feel I need to commit them to memory (or attach them to my steering wheel):

Colossians 3:12-17

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

 ¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Have a good peaceful week.