When things don’t make sense

Yesterday, my husband, David, and I were both in town at the same time and we both had valid visas. We had been getting notices to upgrade our SIM cards to 4G and we wanted to switch one of the SIM cards to be registered under my visa. When your visa expires, your SIM card gets switched off. It doesn’t matter if you have already applied for your visa renewal and have submitted many documents that keep getting requested as your visa application is deferred multiple times. My visa was finally approved and processed after a couple trips to immigration. Since David’s visa will expire in a few months and he will go through this whole process, we thought it would be wise to switch my SIM card to depend on my visa which is good for 2 years now. 

After standing in line at the customer service center for over an hour, the woman upgraded David’s SIM and then told us to go sit and began helping another customer. I was confused and frustrated. I asked another man who worked there, why we were sent to sit when we had not yet accomplished what we came to do. He went and spoke with the grumpy woman and came back and told me that you can only do one thing with a passport per day. Since David had already upgraded his SIM card, we would need to come back another day to transfer the other SIM to my name. I explained (some might say argued) that we didn’t want to use his passport, we just wanted them to register to the number with my passport. Apparently that would still count as using his passport since the SIM had been registered under his passport. At this point I was a little more obviously annoyed when I asked something like,”So you are telling me that we both need to come back another day, stand in line for more than an hour to switch the SIM card to my passport and then return on a THIRD day and stand in line for another hour or more to upgrade my SIM card?!?” The answer was a straightforward, “yes.” 

As we left I was still annoyed, but trying to not let this ruin the day. While we were sitting down for lunch, David said, “It’s kind of funny when you are the one who is angry.” We had recently had some situations where it was the other way around and I had pointed out his irritability. 

Later that same day, I stayed in town to visit with a friend and let one of our kids go to a birthday party. My other children who were with me were incredibly patient as they waited for hours at various points throughout the day. I thanked them on the way home and one of them said, “We’ve had lots of practice.” 

Reflecting on my impatience and irritability in the SIM card situation and then seeing how patient my children were was humbling. As I was thinking about this, the parable of the unmerciful servant from Matthew 18:21-35 came to mind. In this parable Jesus answers the question about how many times we should forgive others with a story. A man with a huge debt was going to be imprisoned because he could not pay. But after begging for mercy, the man was forgiven of his debt. That same former debtor, then went to another man who owed him a small sum. And because the debtor with the small debt could not pay, he was imprisoned. 

Now when it comes to someone apologizing for something, I know that I need to forgive. This story comes to mind and I remember that I have been forgiven much by the Lord and need to also forgive the person apologizing. But this morning it occurred to me that this same principle applies in the Customer Service Center. God has been patient, gracious and merciful toward me. And yet with other people (who make me stand in line for hours on multiple days) I can be impatient and irritable. When we tried putting the new SIM card in and it did not even work, my anger reared its head again. 

It is easy to see things that don’t work, difficult situations and even difficult people and then respond by having an irritable, complaining attitude. But when I am easily annoyed with others, I am being like that unmerciful servant. Even though the “one action” passport policy doesn’t make any sense to me, it does not show others that I have received the loving, patient, mercy and grace of God when I grumble and complain. Philippians 2:14 reminds us to do “everything without complaining or arguing.” Does “everything” really mean dealing with difficult people and ridiculous policies? I think it does. And as I continue to struggle with my attitude in those situations, I am reminded of how patient God has been with me. Growing up I learned a song that we would sing when we were getting irritable. It was sung by Herbert (the Snail), aka Frank Hernandez. Here are the words: 

“Have patience, have patience, don’t be in such a hurry. When you get impatient, you only start to worry. Remember, remember, that God has patience too and think of all the times when others have to wait for you.”

In these moments of life when I tend to be annoyed, I am learning to ask God to help me remember how much patience and grace I have received and to give me the ability to respond more like Him.