How many times do I have to tell you?

Whine, whine, whine. I was in the middle of one of “those” weeks and I woke up that morning just feeling like I couldn’t take any more. I work for a great organization, but I have a very demanding job and work with some very unique personalities. If I’m not careful with my time and priorities, one little thing can upset my applecart and suddenly…there’s nothing but sauce.
You know the feeling. You are questioning everything about your ‘work persona’. Can I handle my job today, and if I can’t, then what? Is this a symptom of something deeper? Should I be looking for another job? Should I just run away from it all and find a nice quiet little dark corner to shiver in for a while?
Well, okay, maybe it hadn’t quite reached that point but it was close. I just knew that if one of my coworkers even breathed the wrong way I was going to lose it.
So I went to my devotions that morning with a sense of desperation. Was the Lord going to lead me to that little known passage in the book of St. Lightbulb that says, “Thou shalt call thine workplace and thou shalt tell them thou is not working today as thou doest not like the way thine coworkers breatheth”?
Before you start wondering what version of Scripture I’m using, let me just say that, no, I didn’t get approval to take a day off to wallow in my self-pity. What I did read was that I need to increase my brotherly (or sisterly) love. Hhhmmm. That was a bummer. I thought about that as I dragged myself to my car and bumped through the potholes to work.
Strangely enough, the feeling of dread had mostly left by the time I reached my office. I work in a Christian organization and we have staff devotions every morning. The subject this morning was…you guessed it…brotherly love. Okay, the light was starting to break through my cloudy spirit. I let the love of God soften my heart and my mind and asked Him to let that love flow through me.
Strangest thing happened! My whole attitude and emotional outlook changed and I felt optimistic for the first time in days. My interactions with my coworkers became light and happy and it turned out to be a fairly good day. Sure, things happened like they always do, but my perspective was altered as I began to look for ways to show the love of God to those around me.
Funny how God works sometimes. Now I need to find the passage about the free trip to the Bahamas…