{"id":12345,"date":"2015-05-01T00:09:59","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T07:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettiesworld.com\/?p=12345"},"modified":"2017-06-28T21:05:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-29T04:05:00","slug":"12345","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/?p=12345","title":{"rendered":"Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today has been a day to spend loving on a very dear family that has become *our* family. This beautiful\u00a0mama\u00a0brought her 11 kiddos over and spent the afternoon – we combined our resources and had pizza and salad and fresh veggies and deviled eggs and cookies for dessert, and it was a lovely chaos. The little children played happily, the teenagers “hung out” or did makeup or played Team Fortress as it suited them, and the moms just got to have some much needed face time, and it was very good<\/em>, something I want to do lots more of, and soon. We cut things short so they could get to a plethora of appointments before their MoezArt performance this evening. I dropped Jake and Geneva off at the play around 6:30, and Megan joined them there after work so they could all support their theater friends, and they arrived home around 10:30 having enjoyed it as much as ever. So — a good full day.<\/p>\n

Here is the painting at the head of this post, in full. Entitled “Merry Company,” it was painted by\u00a0Richard Brakenburg (1650-1702).<\/p>\n

\"1271px-Richard_Brakenburgh_Merry_Company\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

I have been mulling over the first chapter of the\u00a0book of James, and honestly, every time I try to pick out one verse, I’m stymied by wanting to choose two others. Thus, my scripture for today is the entirety of chapter one (and this is from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition).<\/p>\n

\n

James 1<\/h3>\n

Salutation<\/span><\/h3>\n

1\u00a0<\/span>James, a servant[a<\/a>]<\/sup> of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,<\/span><\/p>\n

To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:<\/span><\/p>\n

Greetings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Faith and Wisdom<\/span><\/h3>\n

2\u00a0<\/sup>My brothers and sisters,[b<\/a>]<\/sup> whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, <\/span>3\u00a0<\/sup>because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; <\/span>4\u00a0<\/sup>and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.<\/span><\/p>\n

5\u00a0<\/sup>If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. <\/span>6\u00a0<\/sup>But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; <\/span>7, 8\u00a0<\/sup>for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.<\/span><\/p>\n

Poverty and Riches<\/span><\/h3>\n

9\u00a0<\/sup>Let the believer[c<\/a>]<\/sup> who is lowly boast in being raised up, <\/span>10\u00a0<\/sup>and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field.<\/span>11\u00a0<\/sup>For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trial and Temptation<\/span><\/h3>\n

12\u00a0<\/sup>Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord[d<\/a>]<\/sup> has promised to those who love him. <\/span>13\u00a0<\/sup>No one, when tempted, should say, \u201cI am being tempted by God\u201d; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. <\/span>14\u00a0<\/sup>But one is tempted by one\u2019s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; <\/span>15\u00a0<\/sup>then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. <\/span>16\u00a0<\/sup>Do not be deceived, my beloved.[e<\/a>]<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

17\u00a0<\/sup>Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.[f<\/a>]<\/sup> <\/span>18\u00a0<\/sup>In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hearing and Doing the Word<\/span><\/h3>\n

19\u00a0<\/sup>You must understand this, my beloved:[g<\/a>]<\/sup> let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; <\/span>20\u00a0<\/sup>for your anger does not produce God\u2019s righteousness. <\/span>21\u00a0<\/sup>Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.<\/span><\/p>\n

22\u00a0<\/sup>But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.<\/span>23\u00a0<\/sup>For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves[h<\/a>]<\/sup> in a mirror; <\/span>24\u00a0<\/sup>for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. <\/span>25\u00a0<\/sup>But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act\u2014they will be blessed in their doing.<\/span><\/p>\n

26\u00a0<\/sup>If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. <\/span>27\u00a0<\/sup>Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today has been a day to spend loving on a very dear family that has become *our* family. This beautiful\u00a0mama\u00a0brought her 11 kiddos over and spent the afternoon – we combined our resources and had pizza and salad and fresh veggies and deviled eggs and cookies for dessert, and it was a lovely chaos. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,7,325,3,228,248,273,598,245],"tags":[326,327,318],"class_list":["post-12345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-catholic","category-dutch-masters","category-family","category-fellowship","category-friends","category-gatherings","category-netties-world","category-scripture","tag-fellowship","tag-friends","tag-scripture","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12345"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12351,"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12345\/revisions\/12351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}