looking in the mirror and immediately forgetting its reflection

Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does.

-James 1:22-25

I could kick myself.

I've been teaching some teen girls a Bible Study on Monday nights and last night we studied Hannah... a woman who was barren for years and taunted by her husband's other wife.  Hannah's response to her situation was to go to God.  She wept in the temple and poured out her heart to God to the extent that the priest, Eli, who was standing there watching her thought she was drunk.  Hannah requested that God give her a son, and promised that if He would, she would give her little boy back to God for the fullness of his life.  God heard Hannah's prayer, and in the course of time He opened her womb and she had a little boy, Samuel, meaning "Because I asked the Lord for him".  Hannah had amazing trust in God and gave her little boy to the temple when he was probably around two years old without hope of another child.  God blessed Hannah and a few years later she had five more little babies: three boys and two girls!  I pointed out to the girls that Hannah had a choice in her situation... to turn to God or to become worked up about her lot in life.  Instead of responding like Abraham's wife, Sarah, who took matters into her own hands and then later laughed when an angel told her she was expecting, or Rachel, Jacob's wife, who became bitter and jealous of her sister Leah and pleaded with Jacob to give her a child as if it was him who made her barren, Hannah turned directly to the source, to the only one who might possibly provide her with a child, and who definitely would provide her with the comfort, patience, and peace that she needed to continue through life without a son or daughter.  My challenge to the girls last night was to turn directly to the source when troubles come our way - to pray and cry out to God like Hannah instead of taking it into our own hands or becoming bitter, angry and jealous.  

And what's the first thing I do last night when Bible Study is all said and done?  I freak out!  Last night right after Bible Study instead of practicing a Hannah response to a difficult situation by being patient and prayer-ful, I became upset, down-cast,  stressed, worried, frustrated, and angry.  That man in James seems like me today.  How easy it was for me to "look in the mirror and then walk away and completely forget what I look like"!  

Dear God, forgive me.  Help me to respond like Hannah.  Thank you that you are a God who listens, who understands, who cares, and who blesses and guides your people as we trust in you.  I'm sorry for my lack of faith.  I want to not just listen to your Word... I want to do what it says.  Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  

Amen.  Yes Lord, let it be so.