Amy Kelley, Dir. of Program Ministries, Gethsemane

James 1:19-21 (CEB)

19 Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to grow angry. 20 This is because an angry person doesn’t produce God’s righteousness. 21 Therefore, with humility, set aside all moral filth and the growth of wickedness, and welcome the word planted deep inside you—the very word that is able to save you.

22 You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves. 23 Those who hear but don’t do the word are like those who look at their faces in a mirror. 24 They look at themselves, walk away, and immediately forget what they were like. 25 But there are those who study the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continue to do it. They don’t listen and then forget, but they put it into practice in their lives. They will be blessed in whatever they do.

Reflection:

Hi, my name is Amy Kelley and I’m a recovering road rager. (This is where you say, “Hi Amy Kelley.) I’ll be the first one to admit that impatient, negative energy that comes over me sometimes in the car is not of God. Something just happens when I get in the car! It’s as if all God-given patience that I do possess just gets cut off. Literally. By a driver that cuts me off. I take their absent-minded driving as a direct attack on me. Why? Why do I do this to myself? It could really get me hurt, or even killed. Houston freeways are no joke! But here’s where this saga gets interesting.

I was on my way to church for a meeting one evening. As I was down this busy street, a car pulled out in front of me, into my lane, and proceeded to drive 15 miles an hour. I mean… come on! Just recalling the story awakens my impatience monster. I laid on my horn for a ridiculous amount of time. Completely unnecessary actually. I angrily swerved around him, floored my gas pedal, and got in front of him all while saying not-so-nice things. A block or two later, regret flooded over me. I asked God to forgive me, turned into the parking lot, and drifted into a parking spot like a scene out of “Gone in 60 Seconds”. I got out, made it almost to the entrance when I realized I left my laptop in the car. As I walked back to my car, I noticed the man that drove so slowly pull into the parking spot next to me. Oh no. The blood rushed out of my face. He looked at me, then my car, then back at me and said “God really protected you my dear. Dale Earhart doesn’t even drive like that.”

Needless to say, I apologized profusely, not even trying to offer up excuses. He patted me on the back and we walked in together. All through the meeting, I was distracted trying to recall this scripture that would call me to be a better neighbor, human, and child of God. James calls us to be quick to listen and slow to anger. That quick to listen part used to trip me up, thinking it only meant to listen to others. But I think he was reminding us to listen to God too! To show humility by apologizing. And cultivating the very Word inside of us that able to save us. 

Prayer:

Forgiving Driver of our lives, thank you. Just thank you. You save us every day. You save us from each other and ourselves. But God, help me to realize you sit inside each of us, guiding and directing us; if only we would be quick to listen. I don’t want to only hear you but reflect you. When I look in the mirror, I want to see more of you. I will try my hardest to put your words into practice each day in the car, at work, at home. We love you and praise you! Amen.