A bee in your bonnet

We've all heard that saying, right? Someone will be really grouchy, and we'll say "boy they got a bee in their bonnet today, don't they". Thankfully I've never actually experienced this, but I imagine it would be pretty painful. And before my kids say it, no, I am NOT old enough to have worn bonnets! Well, other than at Easter, I still have an adorable one that was made for me when I was a toddler. But anyway, yeah, that would be enough to get anyone grumpy. But usually when we say that, we are really commenting on how they are making everyone around them just as miserable as they seem to be.

I guess this goes along with my post the other day about how words can hurt. Carelessly spoken words are the stinger of that bee in a bonnet. (Yes, I am still contemplating things over the last couple of weeks, not dwelling or pouting, but contemplating, that sounds better right??) The Bible tells us in Romans 12:18, "as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men". Not easy to do, not for me anyway. I'm trying to do that. When someone has a bee in their bonnet over something, it's not fun to be around them. Usually they are snipping and snapping at someone else (ok say that three times fast!) and what's our first reaction? Snip back at them, right? We can't do that. We have to be the one to live peaceably with them. We have to try our best if we want our light to shine.

Tonight at church we sang the song "Let the Beauty of Jesus be Seen in you". You've probably heard it and sang it too. One line really stood out for me tonight.


When someone has been so unkind to you, some word spoken that pierces you through and through, think how He was beguiled, spat upon and reviled, let the beauty of Jesus be seen in you.

Here are the complete lyrics if you haven't heard it before. It just really hit home for me tonight. If I've got a bee in my bonnet about something, I need to keep it in my bonnet. And when someone's bee stings me, I have an obligation to Jesus to not try and sting back. It's hard. So hard for me to do. But I am going to do my very very  best to let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me from now on. I will need my friends to keep me on track, remind me of this very often and pray for me.

If we can all try to remember this, think of what a better world we would live in:

 Don't let the bee in your bonnet sting everyone around you.