Sometimes I Wake up Grumpy…

Sometimes I Wake up Grumpy… June 21, 2007

…and sometimes I let him sleep in.

Is the name of a book by some sort of Christian Erma Bombeck humorist. It was a cheerful ‘Sunshine on the Soapsuds’ kind of book. I was reminded of it by a comment by someone who signs themself ‘anonymous old friend’ in my combox. AOF said that one of my recent posts was ‘full of grace’ whereas others of my posts are ‘harsh.’
Really? Funny how we don’t know how others perceive us. I never set out to write a ‘harsh’ post, but I do try to speak the truth clearly as I see it. I’m not comparing myself to Jesus, but it seems to me that his preaching was often nice and beautiful and sweet and sublime, and other times it was, well, harsh. You need to both together don’t you? Can’t have roses without thorns?
Besides, what strikes one person as ‘harsh’ strikes another person as astringent and inspiring and invigorating.
I remember two ladies in my Anglican parish. One we’ll call Nancy and the other we’ll call Pat. Pat was a plump, kindly soul who was the cook at the village school. To put it plainly, she was full of love for everyone. Nancy, on the other hand, was a religious busy body. Always into someone else’s business, Nancy was a proper pain in the neck.
One day our two year old was making noise during the Eucharist. My wife took him out and tried to calm him down, but still he was stroppy. Afterwards Nancy smiled and said, “He’s certainly got a healthy little set of lungs!” My wife took offense. Pat said, “He was a noisy little brat this morning wasn’t he?” My wife laughed and said “Not half! Sorry he annoyed you!”
The point is, Nancy said the nice polite, correct thing, but offense was taken. Pat said the incorrect thing, but her comment was received warmly and with affection.
You can say anything if you speak out of a loving heart, and if you do not have a loving heart anything you say will be taken as spiteful, mean and even if you say the ‘right’ thing you’ll be suspected of having a hidden agenda.
I pray to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the gift of a loving heart before it’s too late.
I advise you to do the same.

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