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You don’t hear it used much in this context any longer, but feeling cross means being cranky, grumpy, or grouchy. It implies a general feeling of annoyance.

One source cites it as being used mainly with children. Another source says it’s British English, as in, “You little bugger. Do that again and I shall become quite cross with you.”

My favorite illustration of the spiritual sense of cross comes from Episcopal Bishop Susan Goff. She says the crossed beams create a crossroads, with the vertical beam pointing skyward and representing our relationship with Jesus.

The horizontal beam represents our outstretched arms in relationship to the world. They cross perfectly.

The Crossing is a police thriller by Michael Connelly. Main character Harry Bosch is a longtime Los Angeles homicide detective. He shares police procedures and crime solving aspects with the readers by his “thinking out loud” moments.

The book’s title refers to deducing who committed a “murder by stranger” by narrowing down where the victim’s life intersected with the killer’s. In other words, where did the victim’s and the murderer’s lives cross?

Recently I heard a business application similar to the detective’s explanation. The vertical line represents our capabilities; our expertise and all the ways we can help a client or customer.

The horizontal line signifies not just the “pain points” of our clients, but also the ways they want to improve so they can grow, both career-wise and personally.

The crossing, the point where a client’s needs or problems meet our capability to help them, is where we’ll find new clients and where they’ll find us.

In other words, if I’m a life insurance agent, I won’t cross potential customers in a group of teens. Even if I am the world’s best life insurance agent (high expertise), teens are not looking to purchase life insurance.

Naturally this has application for our personal lives as well. We need to pay attention so these crossing moments stand out.

My guess is that everyone reading this has experienced having just the right person cross into your life at the moment he/she was needed.

And in turn each of you may have been THAT person to someone else.

Pay attention to the crossing moments. Your life will be enriched for it.

Cross my heart.