Our bank made the mistake of not sending the automatic debit to pay our house payment. I was justifiably frustrated, so when I went to get it corrected, the first words out of my mouth, were, “I’m not happy about this.”

I wasn’t rude or sharp, but I wasn’t gentle, either. I’d say I was firmly polite, but not exactly Christ-like.

The young lady responded with, “I understand and I’m sorry for the problem…. ”

I didn’t hear the next few words after “I’m sorry.”

Yes, they were at fault, but I also needed to be sorry, and I most certainly was. “I’m sorry, too,” I said. “I snapped at you and I shouldn’t have. You need to fix your mistake, but a bad attitude from me isn’t going to make it happen any quicker or better.”

It took about five minutes to get things straightened out and when I left, we were both in a good mood. But that’s not the end of the story….

Two days later, I saw the teller with her little girl at church. We smiled and said hello. But it could have been an entirely different scenario, had I not listened to the Holy Spirit and reflected God’s compassion the day we first met.