OK, I love the alliteration.
When people interrupt time I have planned for doing something I want to do.
The last post, about students wasting a teacher's time? I can't really figure out a way that getting annoyed at a student wasting your time is wrong. I think the initial anger is legitimate. The way it's dealt with is where the sin comes in. I, me personally, should view it as a time to patiently and constructively mentor and train the student into how to value another person's time. In a perfect world.
Back to when people interrupt my time that I have planned for doing something I want to do.
Ok, I have to narrow this down. This is time that I have set aside to specifically do something I desire to do. Not something I need to do like balance the checkbook, laundry, or grade schoolwork. Something like watch a movie I want to watch, or eat a dessert I want to eat, or go to sleep early to make up for lost sleep, or go shopping for something for me. (I don't know what that would be)
So, as a mother, wife, and daughter, I regularly have people asking for my time. And that's okay, but what happens when I am in the middle of doing something I actually want to do and someone interrupts me. Sometimes I have a good attitude and sometimes not. It depends on how I am feeling that day, how many previous interruptions I've had, how annoying that particular person has been that day. These things happen. I am human. Probably the thing to do is to think about how Jesus would react in this situation.
If the interruptor is a child or my child, then I need to train them in a loving way to discern when it is inappropriate to interrupt a person. If it's an adult then it's a little harder. Boundary setting has never been my strong suit. I feel like an adult should be able to use their common sense to know if it's okay to interrupt me. So, if I'm curled up in my reading chair reading a book for fun, it's not acceptable to me for you to interrupt me because you want to tell me something that isn't immediately urgent. But, I am not assertive enough to tell you that I am reading and I will talk to you about that later. Now, if you really need my help, then please say to me that you really need my help with this certain thing and can I please come help you. I get that, but drive by, just thought you should know why the "x" thing is now in a new place...I don't need to know that right now. Or similar trivial things.
So, how do I make it clear that my introvert self is decompressing right now and it's not okay to talk to me? I don't know. I've actually taken to going to my bedroom and shutting the door.
How about when someone stops by during dinner? How do you manage that. When the person really seems to have no clue that they are interrupting anything. When it's not just dinner but a special occasion. I don't know how to handle that.
I'm really actually very terrible at all this. That's why I'm posting these. How do I deal with interruptions in a grace filled way? I really don't know. I know people who do grace well. I have relatives who do grace well. I just don't. I guess this is something I need to praying for myself. Grace to give freely.
I remember reading about this in the book "Love Walked Among Us" by Paul Miller. Here is a tiny excerpt, I think you should get the book, but I heart Paul Miller:
ReplyDeleteJesus has shown us how to love: Look, feel, and then help. If we help someone but don't take the time to look at the person and feel what he or she is feeling, our love is cold. And if we look and feel, but don't do what we can to help, our love is cheap. Love does both"
I think you're in a season in your life where there is not a lot of time for yourself. Go back to the word and see how Jesus handled the constant interruptions to his life.
Not judging, just offering some insight :)