Making Pearls

Today, I am again of sound mind.

Gary pointed out his devotion from today to me. It's appropriately from James 1:2-4. "Considerate it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials (irritations) of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Chuck Swindoll comments:
"One of these days it should dawn on us that we'll never be completely free from irritations as long as we are on this planet. [It would do me well to remember this often.] Upon coming to this conclusion, we would then be wise to consider an alternative to losing our cool. The secret is adjusting." [And I need to remember this, because apparently I'm not doing so well at it right now.]

"When it comes to irritations, I've found that it helps if I remember that I am not in charge of my day . . . God is. And while I'm sure He wants me to use my time wisely, He is more concerend with the development of my character and the cultivation of the qualities that make me Christlike within."

Then Chuck Swindoll uses the example of the oyster and its pearl. You all know that when an oyster gets an irritation, it makes a pearl out of it.

So, although neither these verses nor the fact that oysters make pearls out of irritations is new to me, I see them together now and will be applying them to my life.

And watch out, I'm going to have a new verse to hold to and boat load of pearls!