James 1:2-4

"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."
James 1:2-4


I think this is hard to hear sometimes… that we need to rejoice at temptations, and look forward to learning patience. But also interesting and cool... especially the last verse. It seems to me to say that if we finally learn that patience that God is trying to get us to learn, that we won't need to walk around in this world, dissatisfied. And you know, that is a pretty huge accomplishment... to be content where we are, with what we have. So, we can learn to be glad when we run into temptations and snags in the road... because it is teaching us that indispensable lesson... patience, and through patience... satisfaction. Not that we can't or shouldn't be hungry to learn... but as we learn patience, we learn a lot more than we know now: that we aren't partial people... that we aren't incomplete. We are "perfect and entire." God can teach us to find our wholeness, and to be satisfied with what God grants us in our lives. Maybe it is just me, but I think that a lot of the swerves that we take from God's path are because we think we need something that we don't have... we find these voids in ourselves that we want to fill... but that is part of the path, learning, growing, discovering within yourself your own completeness... letting God take care of the things you can't possibly handle. So, as hard as I know it is... let’s be thankful today for the things in our lives that are teaching us patience. Learning that lesson will bring some pretty incredible rewards.