“The whole world is an insane asylum- and you’re on staff.”  Wow.  These words rang true as a guest pastor came and spoke at our yearly fellowship meeting.  I often wonder what kind of crazy pills people are taking with their morning oatmeal.  And it’s not the unsaved, it’s the Christians!
Do you ever just want to shake people and say, “Really? REALLY???? What is wrong with you?”?

•    The woman who feels her spiritual gift is criticizing you- to everyone else.
•    Finding out in the paper one church member tried to kill another church member.
•    Those who get offended, won’t tell you why, and never talk to you again.
•    The homeless who serve because they have no where else to go.
•    The unemployed creepy guy that hangs out at church daily.
•    The control freak who serves only for validation
•    The gossip who spreads lies to the most vulnerable sheep in your flock.

And that was all last week.  Okay, not really, but in the past few months.

“If you’re not tempted to resign at least once a month in the ministry, you are not doing something right.”  -Gordon Anderson, President of North Central University
I may not want to resign every month, but it’s close.  I struggle at times to keep going when it feels like the work you are doing isn’t going anywhere.  Then the other day I came across Colossians 3:12-14

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as The Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

This spoke to me in dealing with the mental hospital I call church, (of course not all are crazy but sometimes it seems the weird outweigh the norm). The scripture says to ‘clothe yourselves’.  I think Paul here understood that our compassion, kindness, humility and love with people comes off and on our bodies just as much as we change outfits on a Sunday morning.  Just as we put on clothes daily, we are to clothe ourselves daily with these virtues so we may be able to help the ill.
I’m not good at this.  I’m better at putting on church clothes than putting on virtues. However, next to not being naked out in public, I cannot be ‘virtue naked’. The verse also says to forgive as The Lord forgives you.  Yes, we’re in ministry, we know this.  However, as Jesus was dying on the cross He said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know.”  And you know, sometimes, they don’t know.

PRAY WITH ME SISTERS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               “Father, help us to not be ‘virtue naked’.  Help us to clothe ourselves daily with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and love so we can help those we serve. Show us our flock through your eyes and not our own.  And where they wrong us, help us to forgive just as you forgave us. In Jesus name, Amen.”