Forgiveness and being delivered from evil: handling irritation and temptation

Okay, let's start with an understanding -- we cannot avoid irritation. At least, I can't. And I can't seem to avoid temptation...so I am thinking that anyone who puts on some 'beyond the reach of sin' appearance is phony.

Phony or dead.

Phony or dead or in a coma.

This is when you spit and throw salt over your shoulder and knock on wood.  :)

It's funny how I get these images in my mind. For instance, when I think of little things like the 'salt over the shoulder,' 'knock on wood,' and stuff like that, I think of the Irish. Not fair, you might protest! No, it isn't fair, I'm just being honest about it...and I know it isn't politically correct.

However, in spite of the image I have of the Irish the closest thing to a saint I have ever known is my wife, a red-headed descendant of a family called "Grimes." A cabby in Dublin told us that "Grimes" is like "Smith" or "Jones" as far as he was concerned.

So if an Irish lass can be a saint, what's the trick to "Forgiveness and being delivered from evil: handling irritation and temptation" and all that stuff?

I seem to be stuck on the Lord's Prayer. I can't quite get a handle on it. At least, not enough of a handle that I can move on. My spiritual growth is high-centered on that little prayer as I learned it in my childhood:

Matthew 6:5And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

7But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11Give us this day our daily bread.

12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.  (King James Version)

"Forgiveness and being delivered from evil: handling irritation and temptation" -- forgiveness seems to be from God in some proportion as we exercise it toward others; being delivered from evil seems to be directly linked to how we handle temptation; and handling irritation seems to be dependent upon my attitude through the process that began with, "Our Father which art in heaven..."

Oh to be a little more Irish and a little less like I am.