the lesson I learned from a 2nd grader

It was a simple questions:

"What is Jesus teaching you right now and how are you putting that into practice?"

Our pastor had said one simple question yesterday and it seemed it smack me hard in the face.  Let me tell you why.  I'm good at reading my bible, checking off the verses on my Bible App, writing down key things to remember, but I found my weakness.  Application.  Practice.  Putting it all together.  

So last night as I was thinking over and over again about this simple question, it came to me quite quickly what God is teaching me and how I need to put it into practice.  I'm just loving the current SheReadsTruth study on James.  Oh, James.  This is one of my absolute favorite chapters in the bible.  It is thick with everything I want and need in my life.  And this verse keeps playing over and over in my head:

"be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger"

James 1:19

This verse keeps catching me up.  Just when you think you have everything going well, God has this funny way of showing you exactly where your weakness lies.  But He does this for a beautiful reason, because He loves us and wants us to grow deeper into Him.  So the times when I want to tell my husband or call me mom and vent about the latest need to stop.  The times when all I can do is find the one thing someone did wrong instead of the many things they did right need to stop.  The way that the littlest thing can rub me the wrong me need to stop.  And instead, I need to hear.  Hear God's word, His voice, and hear the other person as well.  

God showed me just how beautiful life is when I received the sweetest note from two of my students.  They instantly reminded me how far kind words go over the nagging, complaining, and all of those things that get in the way.  So thank you, sweet second graders of mine, for showing me the power of positive words instead of thoughts that bring you down.  

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