"Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor."
James 3:17-18, The Message

Before I begin ... wait ... I guess I already have.  Before I continue further, I'd like to note that the third chapter of James begins with a pretty strong warning: don't be in a hurry to become teachers; they're held to higher standards.  I just want to say for the record, I'm not a teacher.  Don't want to be one, never wanted to be one, so don't confuse an ADD stricken, God follower who talks too much but writes an awesome devotional blog with a teacher.  Okay ... got that settled right?  Moving on ...

It's hard for some people to think of me as a hot tempered dude.  Some just can't imagine me 'losing it'.  As a kid I had a temper ... it was easy for me to fly off the handle, but just as easy for me to break down into tears.  My family could confirm that I had my moments.  Around school I didn't get too worked up because I was such a little kid.  However, when I graduated from high school I grew from 5'-8" to 6'-0" tall.  It's amazing what that did for my confidence ... and my bad attitude.  Back when I used to hang out in bars for all the wrong reasons I was pretty mouthy.  It didn't take much ... an hour or so with my buddy Jack, and all of a sudden I was ten foot tall and bullet proof.  I remember one night in particular.  If I would have gotten my way, I'm not sure I'd be able to chew food today.  I got mouthy with the wrong guy, but I wasn't worried ... I was stupid, but I wasn't worried.  Thankfully my friend Sam was worried.  He stepped between me and the mountain I was lipping off to, and probably saved me a trip to the emergency room.

Starting something with that guy wasn't the wisest thing for me to do that night.  I wasn't talking with him in hopes of getting to know him better.  I certainly wasn't gentle or reasonable.  Unfortunately it didn't stop in college.  I carried my short fuse with me for awhile longer.  I remember an incident at work where someone in our marketing department was supposed to carry out a task (one that she suggested and volunteered for) to help complete a proposal for a five year contract.  This was a very big contract ... one that I had spent over a month writing the proposal for.  Our company had invested thousands of dollars to get this job.  Her assignment was simple: get the proposal assembled, bound, and ready for delivery to the city.  The proposal was due at 3:00 pm on a Thursday.  At 2:00 pm, an assistant to the marketing gal took the three copies of the proposal to the printer to get bound.  At 2:30 pm I get a phone call from the printer telling me that he didn't have the materials to bind the proposals as we previously discussed.  Well ... at least I thought our office discussed it with him.  Remember the marketing gal ... the one who volunteered?  Well, she sort of forgot to coordinate with the printer regarding what we needed.  At 2:35 pm I was having a very unpleasant conversation with Mr. Printer Guy ... the only words I can repeat from that conversation in this forum are "you" and "you".  I ended the call by telling him that he better get the proposals bound ... that I didn't care if he used binder clips ... but to get them bound so that we could get them downtown to the 7th floor of City Hall before 3:00 pm.  You see, in my business, if you turn in a proposal at 3:01 pm, it's late, and thrown out.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars of future contracts were in the balance, and almost lost.  I won't even get into the conversation I had with our marketing gal.  I will say it ended in tears, but not mine this time.

Since that time I'd like to think I've gotten better.  I've had my 'hot' days ... I've had some 'cold' days ... but I've definitely gotten better.  It has come at a price though.  Part of that price was saying things that I can never take back.  Part of it was burning a few bridges along the way.  Another part of the price is what James refers to in verse 18 ... he calls it the "hard work of getting along".  All relationships take work ... you can't take them for granted.  Only those who know me can judge how far I've come, and how well I succeed or don't succeed at 'getting along'.  Whatever progress I've made has been a result of God's never ending grace.

What about you?  Are you cold towards others, or are you warm, compassionate, and caring?  Are you merciful to those who try to hurt you, or are you merciless in seeking revenge?  God says in the Old Testament that "vengeance is mine".  Do yourself a favor ... leave it to Him.  While you're at it, leave the rest of your troubles and hurts at His feet too.  He's waiting.  God bless you, and good night.