During the sermon at church this past Sunday, the pastor asked who considered themselves irritating.  After some of the congregation raised their hands, he proceeded to tell us that we are all irritating.  In one way or another.

He went on to say that it is pointless to try to change someone’s irritating traits, because there will always be something irritating about them.  We shouldn’t try to change them.  We need to try love them for who we are.

Without going into the entire sermon, he said we should “Agape” love them (pronounced Ah-GAH-pay).  Agape love is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love, the highest of the four types of love in the Bible (definition from christianity.about.com).  It is loving even the unlovable parts, like God loves us.

I walked out of the sanctuary feeling very uplifted.  However, within 2 minutes of the end of the church service, Jake and Eric were pushing each other’s buttons.  Insulting each other.  Pointing out things they don’t like about each other.

Me:  Weren’t you guys paying attention to the sermon??  Didn’t you learn anything?

Jake:  Yes. I learned that we are all annoying and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

Maybe it should be pronounced ugh-GAH-pay.