My brothers, count it pure joy when you are involved in every sort of trial. Realize that when your faith is tested this make for endurance. Let endurance come to its perfection so that you may be fully mature and lacking in nothing.
If any of you is without wisdom, let him ask for it from the God who gives generously and ungrudgingly to all, and it will be given him. Yet he must ask in faith, never doubting, for the doubter is like the surf tossed and driven by the wind. A man of this sort, devious and erratic in all that he does, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Evening Prayer, Reading, James 1:2-8
After going through a day doing jobs I don't like and feeling at times just plain cooked, H and I finish our day with Evening Prayer, and this reading pierces me like a two-edged sword. How could I have travelled the road all day in misery when the spirit of Francis is leading me down this road? The first sentence says it all; Count it pure joy when you are involved in every sort of trial. For me, how completely Franciscan! I've come to realize that our faith is tested not just in the areas of faith but in all areas, all things. Trials of any sort test one's faith, but to throw all of God's wisdom and teaching away as soon as an issue arises is just like the case of the doubter, who, like the surf is tossed and driven by the wind. I didn't expect to see myself there, but there I was. Am I devious? I don't know. Erratic, yes. And today, driven by the wind. I forgot all about Francis, all about Our Lord. I've come to the realization that I've only scratched the surface of myself, of my faith. I see now that many strong people have held me in strong hands for way too long.
I call upon you, O God,
in my distress.
