who just "put up" with difficult members because it is the path of least resistance,

who smile numbly at the one member who looks as if she is perpetually sucking on a sour pickle,

who listen to a lengthy discussion of "decorating the church for Christmas" after personally saying the word *Advent* a thousand times, then just hang their head in defeat,

who cannot resist rolling their eyes after such a discussion, even in the privacy of the bathroom,

who regret not letting the church building committee replace their windowed study door with a solid wood one--so that members could not see them banging their head on the desk in frustration,

who actually bang their head on the desk in frustration,

who get ambushed by members dropping by with "prayer requests" or "concerns" which are really gossip wrapped with a pretty bow,

who let members convince them to go chasing after the family that just left for the big church down the street because they really, truly, (and without malice) needed a church that offered a specific something else,

who are up at 4:00 am blogging because they can't sleep under the weight of it all,

so I'm going to need your help today, God.