Growing and Left Out.

So here are some ramblings from me this morning...

Before reading this morning I made myself a nice hot beverage to sit down with and enjoy while I read. I grabbed the newest addition to my mugs-- it is this really cutsie looking mug from Starbucks that says on the front of it, 'grow', with a little tree branch. I liked it and since I have such a nice discount there decided to take it home with me...

Sat down with new mug in hand and pulled out the word and asked the Lord where He wanted me to start off this morning: "James". Okay so I turned to James. Within the first few verses I knew the Lord was speaking in a loud way:

"Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy! (I added the exclamation point there) For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to GROW. So let it GROW, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything." James 1:2-4

Here I am holding a mug that says 'grow' on it and then reading these verses on 'grow, grow, grow'... You think the Lord was saying something here? Of course, I don't doubt it. The Lord knows me and really likes to appeal to all my senses every now and again-- in such creative ways. Amen.
Hope you can pull something out of my experience this morning.

Then there is another verse in James that I came upon and realized most of the time we don't really look at the whole verse.

"My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and SLOW TO GET ANGRY."
James 1:19

Most of the time I think it is fair to say that we only look at the first part of this verse and live our lives by that. Living our lives by the first part of this verse is amazing, don't get me wrong, but I think that when we leave out the last part of the verse we are leaving out the vital organ of the text. After it says 'slow to get angry' James goes on to expand on that further:

"Your anger can never make things right in God's sight."
James 1:20

I think it is so important to make sure to include all of these verses together. "Slow to get angry" can be a really hard thing, I know from my own experience, but it doesn't help our relationship with others or God.

There you have it--
Some random morning ramblings.
... hope God can speak to you through something here.

Deep Peace.