Good chilly morning, Dear Friends and Prayer Partners! This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! When I stepped outside this morning, I noticed the crisp, wind blowing and the clouds scooting across the sky, so that no moon or stars were visible. But while it will be cool for a day or two, soon we will be back up to eighty and wishing for cooler weather!
Because of a painful knee and foot, I didn't walk yesterday, but did drive through the park and saw the anhingas drying their wings and a very large woodstork between two lakes.. While we have oak leaves all over our front yard and driveway, the park has truckloads of leaves all over! And I noticed already the bothersome seeds are beginning to fall. Look out cars! But God is good!
From the NLT:
James 3
Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged by God with greater strictness.
We all make many mistakes, but those who control their tongues can also control themselves in every other way. We can make a large horse turn around and go wherever we want by means of a small bit in the mouth. And a tiny rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot wants it to go, even though the winds are strong. So, also, the tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do. A tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is full of wickedness that can ruin your whole life. It can turn the entire course of your life into a blazing flame of destruction, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
People can tame all kinds of animals and birds and reptiles and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father and sometimes it breaks out into curses against those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Can you pick olives from a fig tree or figs from a grapevine? No, and you can't draw fresh water from a salty pool.
If you are wise and understand God's ways, live a life of steady goodness so that only good deeds will pour forth. And if you don't brag about the good you do, then you will be truly wise!
I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!
Love and hugs,
Amaryllis
