Charity Is Not Easily Provoked

Many people recognize missionaries from the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as those two men dressed in white shirts and ties. As missionaries we don't pick the person we will be with, and so sometimes we get along great, while other times it can be difficult. During one of these difficult times, I found myself getting annoyed with the smallest things, for those fimiliar with the musical "Wicked" there is a line in the song "What Is This Feeling?" that says "Every little trait however small, makes my very flesh begin to crawl...", and it got to the point that I was feeling this way, which is never good. One night I found myself praying for charity so that I could get rid of these hard feelings; the next morning God answered. I was trying to memorize a scripture a day, and could not think of a scripture to memorize, so I opened up my scriptures randomly and found some verses marked in red which began "And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not..." As I read Moroni 7:45-47 I learned what charity was.

And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. (Moroni 7:45-47)

I quickly memorized these verses and found myself repeating it throughout the day, that day we happened to take a bike path I hated taking; it was winding, and not well kept, so bumps had formed on it, needless to say, on a road bicycle it was not a smooth ride. As he zipped ahead of me, I got frustrated and began to pedal harder. Soon I could not follow the path and found myself going up a small slope off the path. I tried maneuvering back down the slope unto the path, but soon the uneven grassy slope got to me and I was left careening back towards the path up and over my handle bars. Frustration got to me and I biked harder wondering why he made us take this path yet again. When I came to my sense, I realized, I was blaming him for things he did not cause, and further more, I was getting annoyed with things that should not have been a problem. I realized I had to change.

I was being easily provoked, I allowed his different personality to become a crutch for me, so I could get annoyed at other things.

I realized an easy way to not get provoked easily is to talk about things instead of letting them simmer within you until resentment and anger brew out of what should only be small things. If something starts to annoy you, talk with the person; chances are they don't mean to bug you. A word of warning though, when you talk about something, do so not out of anger or resentment, but because you truly want to fix the problem. Stay calm and be kind.

Another way to not be easily provoked is to not be puffed up. I had a road bike, and so when he got ahead of me, I got annoyed; I thought to myself "I have a road bike, I should be the fast one here." Never let your pride stand between you and a friend.

The story has a happy ending. I talked with this friend, and told him how I was feeling, and what I was allowing to bug me, and because of that we were able to resolve the resentment that was pulling us apart.