Shiro Oguni once visited a group home for adults with dementia. Heartbroken at their isolation from the hum of society, he felt there ought to be a better way. Oguni’s creative genius led to what is known as the Restaurant of Mistaken Orders, an actual restaurant with this added twist—all the wait staff struggle with memory loss. Yes, you read that correctly. Every person in that pivotal role, which requires a strong memory, suffers in that exact area. Now, from the usual business perspective, the results were poor—thirty-seven percent of the time, the guests did not receive what they ordered. But those guests also expect such problems, so they understand. After these “surprises,” apologies and hearty laughter ensue, and customers leave happy.

Paul writes, “Be patient” (Ephesians 4:2)—and we all know that’s so much easier said than done because it involves bearing with each other, a word that can mean everything from “carrying” to “enduring” to “supporting.” In other words, effort is involved. Yet if the effort has its source in God’s love as opposed to our own strength, the burden is lightened and leads to a lighthearted way of living, full of surprises and apologies and even laughter. It’s a way of living where you may not get what you asked for, but you end up getting what we all really want—“a life worthy of the calling you have received” (v. 1).