Not so fast my friends.
If you live in the REAL world, you know that it's impossible to get along with everybody that comes, goes and stays in our lives. I'm glad that the Bible says that "if it be possible, as much as it depends on you, live in peace with all men." (Romans 12:18) God knew that it isn't always possible and I'm telling you sometimes it is quite difficult to live with people who are prickly.
Sometimes they are your co-workers, sometimes they are related to you and - believe it or not - you go to church with them. There is no place safe from difficult people. If you don't believe me, get in your car and drive in traffic to the grocery store and walk around there for about an hour. They are everywhere.
We can't avoid them.
And if you think praying that God would remove them from your lives is a good plan - think again. Either God has a sense of humor, or He likes to test us. I've done that and when God does remove that difficult person from your life, He often replaces them with another one or TWO. I reckon it's because He thinks we need that in our lives.
I once had a very prickly person in my life who is probably #1 on my "Hall of Fame" of difficult people I have ever had to deal with. She was relentless in her insecurities and pettiness. She once made the statement that she has to worry about everyone else's feelings when the fact was that everyone around her had to worry about hers. She couldn't see that. She was difficult and had her negative opinions about me and anything I did that she didn't agree with. It really bothered me until I finally realized that just because she had an opinion about me didn't mean it was true.
Don't get me wrong, it's very challenging to navigate through dealing with difficult people. I don't see how Moses did it when he was leading Israel through the wilderness. They were constantly complaining about something. Talking about difficult people, they were a prime example of that.
So, how can we live at peace with prickly people?
Punch them in the face? Yeah, that's an appealing thought, right? But, no, we can't go around punching people in the face.
First, we have to get to a place where they don't get to us. We need to be the total opposite to their behavior. Show them as much kindness and patience as we can. Is that being fake? Well, yes it probably is in the beginning, but it isn't about them but about us being able to manage how they impact our emotions. If we condition ourselves to react to them in a positive way, it will only benefit us and could even change the difficult person.
We also have to understand that most of the time difficult people are people who have problems. I have heard that hurting people hurt people and I have found that to be true. The only way some know how to deal with their hurts is to perpetuate that hurt onto people around them. Have you ever heard someone excuse another's behavior with "Well, that's just the way they are." I hate that's how we explain away someone's bad behavior, but many times people become the pain that they carry.
Prickly people don't see that they are prickly. It's amazing how difficult people will complain about others or how they are being mistreated by others, yet they don't see their own actions. The world is out to get them, others are being mean to them or there are always negative things happening to them. It is maddening being around people like this.
As long as we live, we will encounter difficult people so we have to accept that and overcome them with being the best that we can people. We can't control how others act or how mean they are to us, but we can control how we respond to them.
