Don't pet your peeves!

Do you have any "pet peeves"? What is a pet peeve? I know I can hear you now, "The annoying behaviors of others that just grate on my nerves like shoes left wherever they were taken off, dirty clothes left on the floor of the bathroom or worse right next to the hamper, dishes being washed as the only effort to clean the kitchen, turning the TV on during my quiet time..." Ummm maybe that is me I am hearing and not you.


What is a pet peeve by definition? Webster's online dictionary defines it as a frequent subject of complaint. A peeve in itself is something that makes you peevish or resentful. I thought you never use the word you are defining in the definition, so I looked up peevish. It has 3 definitions: 1: querulous in temperament or mood, 2: perversely obstinate and 3: marked by ill temper.

Next I looked up pet as an adjective: 1: kept or treated as a pet, 2: expressing fondness or endearment, 3: favorite.

OK, so I tell myself these are not things I want to hold in fond regard or treat as an endeared pet. I have always been so proud of my pet peeves, now I am quite ashamed of myself for harboring these resentments. I wonder how many marriages are broken or even just simply fractured because of pet peeves and the constant and growing resentment of said annoyance. OR how many relationships failed because of a pet peeve? OR how many never even started? OR how many stumbling blocks have been laid in front of others because of these pets?

I am sure I have in my ever-so-willing attitude of sharing my pet peeves with others placed before many Christians and non- Christians alike a huge stumbling block. Doesn't the Bible tell us, "Do all things without arguing and complaining?" Of course it does, and I know that verse by heart for it is rolling off my tongue on a DAILY basis with two little girls who love to argue with me, each other, anyone who will entertain the argument...

Philippians 2:13-15 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. 14Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe

So in my petting of my peeves I am certainly doing exactly the opposite of what Paul tells us in his letter to the Philipian church. I am not practicing what I preach to my children. Job 5:2 Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple. Job 36:13 The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help.

The hard part is that these things honestly get on my last nerve--these things and more. How do I get over that? The easy part would be to quit sharing these with everyone and anyone who will listen, and even stop nagging my family every time I am annoyed with one of these things. The hard part is my heart. The resentment growing in my heart as I sit here trying to concentrate with the TV on, or the kids shoes laying all over the living room floor taunting me... How do I control my heart? How do I get the resentful feelings off my chest without yelling and going berserk? How do I fend them off to begin with so as not to resent the person at all?

I have to trust the Holy Spirit and live by Him instead of by my own means. I have to admit my faults and weaknesses and hand them over to God who dwells in me and allow Him to change my heart.

Galatians 5: 16-26. 16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Oh Lord, I desire to control my environment. I desire to control others, and for them to do what I want them to do and how I think it should be done. You tell me to instead control myself. I can't do this alone. Lord, help me to get as eager to control myself as I am to control everything but myself. Even the simplest phrase of being self-controlled has become perverted by Satan in my life. I wholly desire to honor and bring glory to Your name all while perverting this good thing and making it about who and what else I can control instead of controlling myself. Lord, change my heart and help me in my control issues. Only by Your Spirit indwelling me will this ever happen.