Joy Joy Joy Joy down in my heart...

How often do we say something only later to regret it? Or how often do we hear only what we want to hear, and don't listen long enough to get the WHOLE story? How about jumping to conclusions and finding ourselves angry at nothing?

I can't count the number of times I've commented on something without knowing the whole story, or maybe put someone down without taking their feelings into consideration. I'm also guilty of not listening to the whole story and having selective hearing. And man, am I good at jumping to conclusions, and getting frazzled about minor things. It's said that hindsight it 20/20. I'd have to agree. Looking back on some situations on my life, I see that life would have been a lot more pleasant had I shut up, listened , and calmed down.

I was reading in James yesterday and I ran across James 1:19...
" Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry."

How much smoother would life be if we all did this?? Um... I'm not a genius, but I going to go ahead and assume that life would be easier if we all would follow those instructions. As I look back over the past year or so, I see sooo many instances in my life where I became angry; so many miscommunications and misunderstandings. These could have easily been avoided had I been quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. I heard someone say once that many times when we are angry, it goes back to selfish ambitions. Something didn't go the way we thought, or we were inconvenienced by something. We jump to conclusions without knowing the whole story.

So to achieve this goal of being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, we must be selfless. The key to JOY is Jesus, Others, and then yourself. If it's in any other order than that, it's gonna be a bumpy ride. When I do look back on those frustrating times in my life, I see how selfish I was. Don't get me wrong, I am in NO WAY perfect. I still struggle with selfishness. But I can see where I have grown in my relationships. I've matured in my relationship with God, which in turn has matured and strengthened my relationships with others, and the importance of "self" in my life has decreased. Hopefully as I continue to grow in my relationships, the more selfless I'll become.