“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105 NIV)

Bugs, bugs, bugs are everywhere this summer: in our hair, in our eyes, in our mouths, in the house, in the car, under our clothes, in the bed. A person just can’t get away from them! I have therefore been using a prodigious amount of bug spray to keep the pesky creatures at bay.

As I have been fighting with them, the thought came to my mind that the insect kinds of bugs are not the only bugs that we are called to deal with in this life. I think that you know what I mean: those little irritations and frustrations that are caused by people around us that can simply bug us to death if we let them.

• People who spray graffiti on everything from public walls and sidewalks to rocks and mountains.
• Those who never pick up after themselves.
• The ones who love to cut in front of us in line at the grocery store.
• People who eat with their mouths open.
• Those who think that making certain body noises better left, never smelt, are hilarious.
• People who shove down the garbage in the can just a little bit farther to avoid having to take it out when they should.
• Those who don’t rinse the toothpaste out of the sink.
• The ones who don’t change the empty toilet paper roll.
• And the list goes on and on.

I’m sure that each of us has our own personal, favourite bug, just as I have mine: when people peel their clothes off and leave them turned inside out as they toss them into the hamper, meaning that I have to turn them right side out before I can throw them into the washer. If I do not swat this bug of irritation immediately, it can actually end up making me fuss and fume all day long. I don’t know about you, but I feel that life is just too short to waste so much time and energy on these little bugs.

So, what do I do? What can you do? Use the Word of God to discipline our minds against these bugs, these irritations that like to try to drive us nuts. Use God’s Word to remind us to be patient, to be kind, to be humble, to turn the other cheek, to speak the truth in love (the key word being love), to serve rather than to be served, to show mercy, to forgive, to persevere. For by doing so, we can replace the irritation these bugs cause us with spiritual growth and even laughter.

So today, as we go about our day, and those pesky bugs beset us, let’s be wise and get the better of them before they get the better of us.

Prayer: Father God, thank You for the life with which You have blessed us. Help each of us today to live it to the fullest by focusing on the ways that You choose to deal with the things that we do that bug You: being patient and kind with us, humble and merciful, forgiving and loving, persistent and persevering day by day with all our faults, because You love us and call us to love one another. In Christ’s name, we ask. Amen.

Copyright © 2021, by Lynne Phipps <lynnephipps@hotmail.com>, first published on the PresbyCan Daily Devotional presbycan.ca .
Atlin, British Columbia, Canada

Reprinted from PresbyCan with author’s permission