It's the most...cough, cough...wonderful time...sneeze...of the year. With all the songs, turkeys and decorations, comes a flood of sickness, flu's and other annoying things. And this year is no exception with the whole "H1N1" ordeal.

As I was sitting in the walk-in clinic the other day, I was drawn to how similar a walk-in clinic can be to a youth ministry. We all have a sickness. Whether it's a hurt from our past, a current hurt haunting us, or a hurt in the future that will affect us, we're all in need of healing. Some of us are more concerned for this sickness than others. Some of us need to get healthy more than others. But the fact remains; we are all in need of being healthy.

We can ignore the pain and the hurt but eventually we're going to have to come to the understanding that it's our choice. It's our choice whether or not we choose to get the healing we need.

As Student Leaders rise up, we should be teaching them to pursue a healthy lifestyle. This involves our words, our actions, our thoughts, and habits. I raised the question to my student leaders the other day: "How can we begin and continue to help each other and lead each other, if we ourselves are in need of being healed?"

I learned two valuable things while sitting in that clinic.

1. Patience is a Virtue

Between the crying babies, cheesy music, people coughing, and your name never getting called, one needs a lot of patience to sit in a healthy clinic. When working with and helping the "unhealthy" in ministry, we must have patience. God has patience with us, so we must have patience for others, and their sickness.

2. Patients = Everyone

The truth is we're all patients. Whether we're waiting to see the doctor for our anger, depression, addictions, or past hurts, we're all in this together. We're to love, not judge. Accept, not deny. Build up, not tear down. Someone loved us enough to take the punishment for our sins on himself. The least we can do is show that same love to others.

We're all in this together. Let's help each other get through this. And don't forget to cough into your arm.

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