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Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Conflict Resolution

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4

Every conflict between friends, families, etc.  boils down to one thing: self-centeredness. Children are so adorable as babies until the terrible two's come to play and it loses it's cuteness. How many adults do we know that seem to have never outgrown those toddler terrors? Disagreements come about because we so often are just thinking about ourselves much like a toddler. A toddler is only concerned with his own needs because they are the center of their own universe.  

So often, our solution to solving conflict is avoiding the people we’re having conflict with. We move out of the neighborhood, we change friends, we stop going to the same events that they attend. We figure that our universes can’t collide! But the right solution, the godly answer, to this problem is to bring the other person into the center of our universe.  

We don't teach our children to cut off their siblings when they are small? No, that would only cause emotional anger and pain but instead we teach them to forgive, make-up and be friends again. 

If we begin to put other people into the center of our universe, and they put us in the center of theirs, then there is unity! We miss out on so many blessings when we don't follow God's best for our lives.....

This picture was taken while walking on the beach November 12, 2012