When Things Get Under Our Skin

March 15, 2024

You are warmly invited to this series of Daily Reflections on “When Things Get Under Our Skin.”

A splinter in our hand irritates us until it’s removed. Splinters may burrow underneath our skin and cause painful inflammation. The phrase “it gets under my skin” is a fitting metaphor for something or someone that, like a splinter, aggravates, annoys, bothers, disturbs, enrages, exasperates, incenses, inflames, infuriates, irks, offends, peeves, pains, provokes, rattles, or vexes us. We go into stress mode if we cannot extract the “splinter” by stopping the person’s irritating behavior.

We do not tend to focus on these irritants in the spiritual life. Instead, we put our energy into the things that grow our souls. Yet, predicaments that get under our skin happen to all of us. When we are exasperated, we say, “Oh no, this misery again? I can’t deal with this. I’d rather take a beating than have to endure it.”

Though emotional splinters are painful, paradoxically, they are sometimes the best motivators for spiritual growth. The people and situations that get under our skin test the limits of our endurance. This is when people who seek the spiritual life call upon their spiritual resources. Even spiritual giants are tested by people and situations that get under their skin.

In this series, we will reflect on the spiritual resources we have to extract the splinters from underneath our skins.

Inquiry: What are some of the people and circumstances that seem to always get under your skin? Do you have adequate spiritual resources to deal with them before you get “inflamed”?

Dear God,

It is comforting to know that everyone has splinters that get under their skins. I often feel guilty when the same irritant happens to me repeatedly. My inner critic punishes me for my irritation towards some people and circumstances. I ask that during these reflections, your Holy Spirit speaks to me about things that often seem to defeat me spiritually before they are extracted.

Amen.

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