Colossians 4:12-16a

"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom."

For me, this is one of the most inspiring passages of the entire Bible. There is a lot too discuss. There is a lot of unpacking to do in trying to get a handle on this section of Scripture. For right now, all I'll do is draw attention to the activity that is requested of us -- the number of times it says "Put on" or "Let". We are exhorted to action. Some of these actions may seem to be impossible to accomplish -- when you are troubled, how can you "let" the peace of God "Rule in your hearts"? Putting on "Longsuffering" seems something like asking for trouble.

Yet, part of the inspiration I draw from the passage comes from the fact that all these things, and they are wonderful things, are presented as doable -- things that can be accomplished.