Little things matter

I really don’t like wearing neckties; wearing a clerical collar is not much relief. Each new clerical shirt comes with a pair of plastic tabs, the little white square which makes that distinctive look for the ministers on the street. When I pull out that tab and unbutton my minister’s shirt, it looks rather ordinary. Pop the little white tab back in, and voila — street minister/chaplain/priest.
Those little plastic strips keep disappearing on me. They turn up in the wash, random drawers, under the sofa. On my way to a speaking engagement I discovered I didn’t have a collar tab with me. I searched in my car in the church parking lot, wondering what to do. I figured out that my business card, carefully folded, would do in a crisis. It’s such a little thing — but it makes a big difference.