Driving along in my neighborhood, I slowed down, then stopped at a stop sign. A moment later, a driver in a huge van behind me leaned on his horn. The blast startled me. The driver glared as he drove around me, then took off.

Such aggressive behavior might not have been merely the result of the driver being in a hurry to get somewhere. Societal pressures today are said to be at an all-time high. Concerns about financial insecurity, violence, disease, and other issues seem more and more often to generate excessively negative reactions.

Few situations in our day-to-day lives don’t in some way involve relationships or interactions with others. These can sometimes seem complicated—even messy—and disheartening. But these difficulties just speak to me of the need to express more grace.