I have three questions for you. What irked you today? What was your initial reaction? How did you handle it?

My day started off great and on schedule. I even had time to walk the dog.  I used that time to have a long chat with the Lord. Sang some praise songs and then . . .

WHO LET THEIR DOG POOP IN OUR YARD, AGAIN?!? That was the question that popped into my mind as I looked up and down our street trying to find a medium size dog (according to the size of the doodies) walking with the human being who allowed such a tragedy. Now mind you, I noticed the pile of dog doodie right after I tossed my dog’s doodie into our trash can. (Today is trash day, so our trash can is sitting in front of our house.) I’m not going to lie, seeing that doodie in our grass stirred up a little some anger.

As I reached for the extra poop bags in my pocket, I mumbled to Scout all of my feelings about the person who so rudely left that doodie. Seriously, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to pick up after your dog. But, I get it. Picking up dog doodie is pretty gross, but it comes with the territory, right?

Why do some people think it’s okay to:

1. Let their dog walk in someone’s yard?
2. Poop in someone’s yard?
3. Not pick up after their dog?

I’m not ashamed to tell you that I wasted a little time looking out of my window hoping to see the doodie leaver walk by with their doodie maker. I remembered seeing a guy walking two dogs while I walked Scout and thought I would politely ask him if he was the doodie leaver. THAT’S A LIE!! I wanted to say, “Yo, I caught you, foo. Don’t be letting your dog doodie in our yard!!!!!” LOL

I considered making a “do not leave doodie in my yard” sign. Then I thought I should check with our HOA (Home Owners Association) to see if I could actually put the doodie sign in our yard. Then I thought about posting something on our neighborhood community page about my recent doodie incident. So many things came to mind. Then I realized 30 minutes had gone by.

I had to laugh at myself because I let something minor distract me. The doodie had been done, and there was ABSOLUTELY nothing I could do about it except what I did. I picked up the doodie. LOL I picked up someone else’s mess because I didn’t want it there. I can still try to find a solution but allowing it to distract me from what I needed to do and allowing it to annoy me is something that didn’t have to happen.

So what am I really saying?

Whether they’re planted by the enemy or a test from the Lord, distractions are inevitable. The only thing we can control is our reaction. Don’t get me wrong!! We ain’t called to be punks!! LOL There are times when we will have to deal with stuff, but BEWARE of our desire for instant gratification.

Okay, I’m going to share a funny story that someone told us as an example of instant gratification.

One of the young pastors (not the senior pastor), let’s just call him Pastor N, at our church, told us a hilarious story about how he reacted to someone, let’s call him Dude, who taunted him while he pumped gas one day. After enduring many insults including “big boy,” Pastor N offered Dude a few choice words which included profanity. BOOM, INSTANT GRATIFICATION! Later, when Pastor N told a trusted friend about the incident, although the friend empathized, he said Pastor N was wrong.

Pastor N knew he was wrong. As he told the story, he confessed that he’s sensitive about his weight and a few things had happened that day that left him distracted and not focused on the Lord. I love his transparency, though. I have great respect for a pastor who’s willing to tell a recent story of transgression. That takes a lot of guts. And it was one of his better sermons if I say so myself. By the way, Dude rolled up his window in fear and drove away.

The commonality in these two stories is disrespect. Pastor N and I felt disrespected, and we both desired to handle the situation to feel better. Here’s the part where people may disagree. As followers of Christ, we should choose character/integrity over our feelings. Again, we’re not called to be punks. But if our actions cause more conflict to feel instantly gratified, then we need to dig a liiiiiiittttlllle deepa (deeper). In other words, we need to check our hearts.

I guess my point is, love even when it’s hard for you to love. We can handle a difficult situation without causing irreparable harm to our character.

Will there be a POOP WARS pt. 2? I sure hope not, but I have a feeling I’ll be scooping poop out of our front yard for as long as we live here. I can’t control what people do, but I can definitely control my actions.

I’m not exempt, I’m just  . . .

Blogging it out. Oh, and don’t forget to tell me what irked you today. By the way, that sign can be purchased at www.dogpoopsigns.com. LOL

I just may buy this, or maybe they’ll send me one for free for promoting their website.

#checkyourheart