My friends have this cat, Woody, who meows. Yeah, that’s not strange at all, you’re thinking. Um, this cat does not just meow occasionally; Woody carries on long, drawn-out conversations with anyone and everyone. He’ll jump up on a person’s lap and just begin meowing over and over again. He’ll lay belly-up on the ground and meow incessantly. Undeniably strange. Absolutely hilarious. Some may find it annoying, but not I. Like I said: strange and hilarious.
And, of course, it makes me think…
About how we can go into characteristic overload.
Cats meow; that’s a characteristic of a cat. People fail; that’s a characteristic of a person. Some people, though, go into characteristic overload, like Woody the cat and his meowing.
I work with a woman who is notorious for complaining. She never ever ever ever stops. Ever. And all of us know it. No one likes working with her. It is maddening. I, personally, hate it when she’s the first person I see in the morning, which happens from time to time. All of us complain occasionally (except I never do–not even right now at this very moment). This woman, in this way, is in characteristic overload and everyone knows it.
You know people who are in characteristic overload. They are always getting themselves in over their head; they never have any money; they talk too long during the short meetings at work; they yell at people without necessity at the flip of a switch; they’re impatient all the time; they’re unwilling to see anything through the lenses of others. Almost all of us have these issues at some point: we forget to look before we jump, get wordy, become uptight, and act selfishly. Yes, we’re all imperfect, but these people obviously have an issue and need to work on this characteristic overload of theirs.
I, myself, am so anti-confrontation that I retreat from any conflict. Sometimes I retreat to doodle land on my paper when I’m in a meeting I can’t get out of; other times, I go into plan mode for work or life (ya’ know, I’m planning a wedding these days). If I can just walk away, I will. And as quickly as I can tactfully do. This is something I’ve been working on of late.
Church people can be the worst when it comes to characterisitc overload, though, don’t you think? “Shew! Doggie!” as my grandpa says with a whistle through his dentured mouth as he shakes his head wildly. Growing up, gossip was the characteristic overload of many of the adult women in my life. Man oh man, they’d talk someone into the ground and move right along like they just had the right to slam their own brother or sister in Christ straight through the ground all the way to China! Other people had some real issues with jealousy. They’d straight up stage a coup; they’d remove a minister from service for no real reason at all and never take the time to apologize to them or their family afterwords. I’ve seen a lot of these and other terrible characteristic overloads in church buildings in my experience–especially as a minister’s daughter and a woman who likes to be involved in service.
But characteristic overload has its perks, most definitely:
I have met some amazing people who have strengths of characters that outshine the sun. These positive characteristic overloads far outweigh the sticky ones. I work with men and women of high moral conviction, who do what is right by their colleagues and students. I have friends who have well-balanced heads, who live within their means, build other people up, and have good and clean fun.
Let us not forget about the church; I’ve seen some amazing things happen amongst the people within the church. I’ve seen women act as prayer warriors for others–praying unendingly for their friends and their friends’ friends and family members. I’ve seen mothers come together and encourage one another, be another adult to speak to, offer to help catch up at home when things have been rough. Wives have built up their husbands and not disrespectfully torn them down. Children have learned to treat others fairly and lovingly. Friends have been excited for other friends who have had good news and have shown up at funerals days after terrible news. Women have mentored me as a younger woman and acknowledged their own faults, shared their stories, and shown me what it means to be a loving woman of God.
Love. That is the one characteristic overload I’d like to be known by.
Lord, be my eyes, hands, feet, and words as I feebly attempt to love others as You have first loved me.
In Your name I continually pray…