Patiently Bearing with Each Other

Slowly I have come to realize that my calling in every one of my relationships is to live with sinful people the rest of my life. Like me, each person in my life is weak or sinful in some way. But that doesn't mean I am supposed to manipulate or nag them. Instead, I am to bear patiently with the things that are difficult for me to accept or that annoy me. Not to condone sin, but to realize frankly that people do sin and will need help. I am called to create healing relationships to care for those who are damaged, rather than throwing away the damaged or seeing them as an embarrassment.

--William P. Smith, Loving Well (Even If You Haven't Been) (Greensboro, NC: New Growth, 2012), 75.