People and Popcorn

Have you ever had to work with someone who really got under your skin? Maybe they were rude on so many levels or just plain disrespectful. Or their personality clashed with yours in a major way.
I taught a group of girls ages 9-11 last year. During a lesson that required instruction on how to deal with such people, I told them about the term EGR. EGR is an abbreviation used to describe a person or situation where Extra Grace is Required. I instructed them to pray for their EGR's regularly and ask God for the grace needed to handle them. At the time I was teaching this, I never imagined that roughly a year later I would have more EGR's than I can count on a hand!

I have questioned, this week, whether or not God actually provides that much grace. Believe me, I have had my doubts and rightfully so. When a 55 year old woman rolls her eyes after you made a small request of her, you start to question a lot of things. What wolf raised her? For one. But also, how do you love someone in spite of themselves?

I got to a point, sometime yesterday, where I had written off all people in Ohio. Mansfield especially. I have felt, recently, like I was caught in some kind of black hole where the drudges of society now reside and I was accidently placed here to roam among them. "Oh God, Give me GRACE".... "Restore my faith in people here and show me that they're not all that bad".....were the words I uttered.

In response to my prayer, God gave me popcorn! Now you have to understand that I have no kitchen right now....no microwave, no stove, no popcorn! You also need to understand that popcorn is a passion of mine and I love to pop it on the stove and pour melted butter and sugar over it. It's divine! You have to try mine to understand. Anyway, I was sharing my love of popcorn with someone Sunday morning and how I'm going through withdrawal. So what do they do? They bring in a giant bowl of popcorn tonight! And I am eating it while I type.

Honestly, I would take my popcorn over people any day. But when people give you popcorn, you can't help but love them.