We find it easy to say thanks for people who are great.

• “Thank you, God, for Chris who encourages me and takes time to talk with you about me.”
• “Thank you, God, for Mom and Dad who are patient with me and care for us and are always looking for ways to encourage.”

Being thankful for people who benefit us makes sense. But Paul offers a different kind of thankfulness. He is specifically thankful for cranky people.

In Philippians 1, Paul writes,

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  It is right for me to feel this way about all of you…

Paul thanks God for these people and carefully says that he includes everyone. Must be perfect people, we think.  Must be a perfect place.

Until you get to chapter 4. There Paul singles out two women:

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.

There was some argument about something with these two that was more than just a momentary thing. It was a reputation for them.

But Paul still remembers then with joy.

The secret? The joy of community and the confidence that God could actually work in community allowed Paul to be joyful in asking for God to work in this group even as he knew that they weren’t perfect.

He could have focused on the problem: “If you were to fix this, then I could be happy.” But he joyfully accepts growing people.

He’s right.