I have been annoyed by it for years, then I was just plain frustrated for a while. It was the same problem week after week. I didn’t know what to do about it. It stopped during the pandemic. Now it has started up again. It is a mystery to me. It is a “blister maker” if I am not careful. Someone is not being responsible, and really, someone is just not being kind to me at all. Sounds like I’m starting to take it personally
Someone is throwing their cigarette stubs in my driveway. It used to be three or four times a week. None of our neighbors smoke, yet a cigarette stub lands in my driveway or front yard a couple of times a week. My neighbors do not have this problem. We live in the middle of the block. Our street is so wide that there is a median designed to hold twelve parked cars in front of our house. And none of our neighbors host that many parties. I have drawn up a very short suspect list: the mail carrier, the newspaper carrier, or the UPS guy. One other possibility would be someone who might regularly walk around the neighborhood. Most people who are walking for exercise do not smoke while walking and the newspaper carrier never stops when throwing the paper. I am down to the mail carrier or the UPS guy. The UPS guy changes all the time, so now I am left with the mailman. Does he always light his cigarette at the same place, at the same moment so that he is always ready to throw it away at my house? Doesn’t seem likely. I’ve never seen him smoking. Ever. The mystery deepens.
If I can’t fix it, change it, or confront the culprit, all I can do is face it, deal with it, and wait for the culprit to change. Waiting for someone else to change so my life will be better means I have to change my attitude. If I don’t, it could become the little burr that makes a blister that becomes infected and cripples my walk and makes me sick. Anger and grudges are tricky like that. The only way to stop the blister is to remove the burr. How do I remove the burr? I must stop waiting for someone else to change, but rather check the condition of my own heart when these aggravations occur.
Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Check for burrs. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.
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