The source of annoyance …

While living in Hawaii I made a visit back to the mainland to the northern California area where I had lived previously.

Since I was in the area over a weekend, I attended services at a church I had been involved with, and enjoyed seeing and worshiping with old friends.

Some time during the service, a long, loud, slow “chirping” was heard … someone’s cell phone was sounding an alarm! It continued for a minute, and then seemed to fade. My pastor friend did a great job of preaching right through it. It was an awkward moment, people were looking all around for the source of annoyance. I was happy I had turned off my BlackBerry (yes, my pre- iPhone days) before service started.

As the message went on, so did the cell phone alarm. Once again it sounded, slowing rising in pitch and volume, and then lowering as it again faded out. This happened a couple more times during the service. I watched as one of the men of the church walked around the outskirts of the congregation, trying to find the source of the annoyance. The guy behind me even leaned forward and asked me if it was my phone, but I assured him I had turned my BlackBerry off before service.

Finally, the service concluded without additional interruption, and I reached into my pocket to power up my BlackBerry to check messages.

But I didn’t have to.

The phone was on.

The source of annoyance was found.

It was me!

Really, I actually had turned off my BlackBerry before services began. I had no idea how the phone got turned on, but without a doubt, it had been my own alarm on my own phone that had been the source of annoyance during the service.

Sometimes, we look all around us, at everyone else, for what’s bothering us. Sometimes we think we’ve taken care of our own matters when we really haven’t. Sometimes we’ve only taken partial steps instead of whole steps, and the results are annoying to everyone.

Be careful where you look when searching out the source of annoyance. You may want to start … with you!

Scotty