St. James today encourages us to consider it all joy when we experience trial. I don’t know about you, but that’s not the emotion I usually find in frustrating or fearful circumstances. And considering that the people to whom James was writing were probably being persecuted, they probably weren’t overjoyed at their trials either. But the spiritual principle is that when one’s faith is tested, ones learns perseverance, and learns to trust in God. It’s easy to be faithful when there are no trials, but faith in times of trial produces the perseverance and lively faith that gets us through life. And we definitely should consider that all joy.