This monthly column is my gift to you, a faithful servant in ministry. As a co-laborer in Christ, I want to encourage you to care of your own soul, to take time to nurture your relationship with God through spiritual practices. We regularly reflect in this space on how soul-care is critical to long-term ministry success. If you're not growing, if you're not keeping your own soul healthy, it's hard to tend to the souls of others. I sometimes feel like the gal who gets to ring the bell at recess, to give permission for you to play, to rest, to just enjoy God. I pray that refreshment will water your soul, help it to thrive.

There is another type of growth and it comes from serving, from imitating Jesus who took on the nature of servant (see Philippians 2). If that's true and we want to be like God, we have to know what he's like. Throughout the Bible, poets and prophets describe God in this way: "The Lord is gracious and compassionate; slow to anger, abounding in love." (see Psalm 86:15, 103:8, ...