Colossians 3:13 — Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
I stir the pasta sauce on the stove and glance out the kitchen window, letting the quiet of the evening settle around me. The day had been full of people—some kind, some careless, and a few who seemed determined to push every one of my buttons.
I shake my head and laugh at myself, because I have a name for these types in my prayers. I call them sandpaper people. They scratch, they irritate, they rub you wrong without even trying, and somehow, God always seems to place them right in my path.
I breathe in slowly, the aroma of garlic and tomato mingling with the evening air, and let the tension go.
Sandpaper, I remind myself, smooths rough edges. And I have plenty. I have places I do not even see—spots where I can be abrasive, impatient, judgmental. And maybe, without meaning to, I am a sandpaper person to someone else today. It is in the friction of our interactions, the bumps and irritations of ordinary life, that God works on us.
I think that’s why scripture says, “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”
That’s the kind of grace I want, so shouldn’t I also make room in my heart for others even when they are aggravating.
I taste the sauce, still too hot, and smile. I lift my heart in a quiet “thank you” for those people who tested my patience today. I whisper a prayer for them, too. Because God does not just ask us to endure. God asks us to love. Even the ones who are hardest to love. Even the ones who make us want to roll our eyes or bite our tongues.
They are refining us. And sometimes, they are mirrors, showing us the rough spots in ourselves that only He can smooth.
So I stir the pot again and watch the steam rise. And I wonder, if we looked at the people who irritate us with a little more gratitude, would we see them differently?
Could we see them as part of the plan, helping shape the patience and kindness we could not develop on our own? Tonight, I am thankful. For the sandpaper people, for the growth they inspire, and for a God who never wastes the little irritations of a day.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
- Who are the “sandpaper people” in your life right now—and how might God be using them to shape your character?
- When has someone shown you grace when you didn’t deserve it? How did that affect you?
- How can you practice “making allowance” for someone’s faults this week in a practical way?
- What happens to your heart when you shift from irritation to gratitude toward the people who test your patience?
- How does remembering God’s forgiveness toward you change the way you respond to others?