Scripture: James 1
Once upon a time I completely lost my voice for THREE DAYS! I didn’t feel sick or tired or anything bad, I just could not speak above a whisper.
The first night, I was home alone with the kids when WWIII broke out in my kitchen amongst the siblings. The power of a mother’s whisper was exemplified. When the smoke cleared I gathered them all in the living room for a reading of the Proverbs and prayer (the oldest read, the second prayed), and we decided we would do this every night that everyone is home. It’s been a beautiful thing…sometimes we come and work out problems and at least two people cry, and sometimes we laugh and talk and dig deeper into what we’re actually reading. A good thing.
The second day, I spent about three hours in the car with one of my newer friends. Since I couldn’t talk, she had the floor, and I got to know a lot about her in a short time. It’s amazing how much you can learn if you’re actually listening and not always thinking about what you’ll say next. A good thing.
The third day of silence was just nice. I couldn’t yell at the kids. (Funny thing: They were nervous around me because they said they couldn’t tell if I was mad at them. Poor kids. Haha.) After my voice came back I went at least a solid month without yelling at them…I wanted to keep that up forever but, ya know, I’m a work in progress. Still a good thing.
The moral of the story: I was forced to be “quick to listen,” and “slow to speak,” which in turn caused me to be “slow to anger.” I loved it! It lead to the beginning of a good family tradition, a good friendship, and a better perspective of how my children see me.
Gonna keep practicing this one!
Journal: There’s a lot more in this first chapter of James we could talk about, but let’s not just talk about it, let’s do it! Start by writing a prayer asking God for wisdom so that you can me a doer of the word and not a hearer only (James 1:22).
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
James 1:5
Move: You’ll need a timer (or clock with a second hand) nearby for this one…it’s a mix of a few 30 second intervals with some increasing reps of other exercises. Just start moving!:
Praise the Lord, and keep showing up!
Free and Fearless 