Do you have a “sandpaper” person in your life? I hope so.

(I was “off the blogging grid” yesterday. I didn’t expect to be and usually I schedule my posts ahead of time. But there have been a lot of demands on my time this week. Plus, yesterday I had another back injection for spinal stenosis which causes sciatica. It was painless as usual but I developed a slight fever and lay on the sofa for most of the afternoon. The doctor prescribes Valium before the injection and so I was kind of “loopier” than usual. (Although my husband said he noticed no difference. 🙂 ) What with the Valium and the fever I wasn’t  feeling good until well in the afternoon.”

All is good now.)

Here’s the post I was working on.

Do difficult people bring out of the worst in us or do they actually reveal us to ourselves?  I often think of what is being refined within my own personality from difficult people.

I heard a phrase many years ago. Someone referred to these people as “sandpaper” people. I thought that was very apropos. Think about it for a minute.

What does real sandpaper do? It smoothes out roughness, doesn’t it? It softens corners and sharp edges.

When we get irritated and frustrated, it’s not what they are doing to us. They are only the catalyst that reveals what was inside of us all along. That’s why we get mad. Because we know it is who we are down deep inside. We’ve just been fooling ourselves.

That’s what “sandpaper” people do for us. I have a “sandpaper” person in my own life. And I have to admit, I’m a better person because of her. When she is no longer around, I hope I find another “sandpaper” person to help me become what God wants me to become.

Look around at the people in your life. Is there a “sandpaper” person that continually manages to get under your skin? Look at them as smoothing out your own rough edges. See them as a tool God uses to shape you into being what he wants you to become.

God bless and have a good day.