Counter-intuitive

The best method I have found for getting rid ants is to put down bait and let them swarm and eat it, so they will take the poison back to the ant hill.  This is the most counter-intuitive thing to me. Why would I want nasty, dirty ants crawling around for a period of time.  I want them dead and gone.  My first idea is to spray them, but unfortunately that only gives temporary relief.  For a permanent solution I have to go against what feels natural and right.

There are other things in my life that feel completely counter-intuitive.  A few Sundays ago I was talking to a woman who knows my husbands brother.  She was asking about his family, and we were happily telling her about their two beautiful boys, and there little one on the way.  Later in the conversation she asked us how long we had been married, and when we told her, she said I thought you had been married longer than your brother, and you don't have any children?  My first instinct was to say "How dare you!"  But I realized she didn't realize that she was being rude.  No really, she thought she was making polite conversation.  It took me a few minutes to decide that although she shouldn't have said what she said, I can choose to be offended or not.  There have been many times that I have said something and should have inserted my foot.  Maybe she has never experienced infertility, so the idea that it wasn't by choice that we have waited to start our family.  Maybe she has loved her role as a wife and mother, and no other woman's role is conceivable to her.  Maybe she was totally judging me.  Either way, that is not my problem.  So what?

I am embarrassed as I relate this next thought.  I think that the miracle of life is so amazing.  When I see a woman's belly growing (a friend or family member) I have said that it looks like she is getting big.  It never occurred to me that a pregnant woman could get offended by this statement.  She is growing another life inside of her.  I would be so happy and grateful to add pounds to accommodate for a life that I just didn't see the perspective of swollen feet, back aches, stretching skin, etc.  If I have ever said anything like that to you I did not mean it in an offensive way.  More I am just so happy and excited for you.  Your belly is growing and you will soon be bringing a life into the world.  This is why I am choosing to not be offended by things that people say.  They just may not have a clue.