The Sign Says...

I wonder if we all wore a sign that hung around our necks that said "In need of Grace" if it would change the way we look at others.  Quite often I have found that we realize our individual need of grace but are quick to forget that everyone else is equally needing that same grace.

Jesus repeatedly invites us to remember the important message of grace.  This grace is often realized through the granting of forgiveness.  To be sure, this isn't easy.  Forgiveness is the giving up the power of a grudge, of the anger, of the right to be right.  Forgiveness is the very act of bestowing onto someone else the grace that we want, and need, in our own lives.

Conflict is a natural part of human interaction.  Somewhere along the journey we learned that if conflict is present, we react in one of four ways:
1. We RUN from it;
2. We HIDE from it;
3. We DANCE around it;
4. We DEAL with it.

The first three responses are the ones that at times seem valiant or right, but the conflict is never really resolved.  They are the responses that we have learned to protect ourselves and/or protect others.  Throughout life, we have learned that if we respond in one of these ways, then the conflict will seemingly go away.  Yet what really goes away are the relationships.  That is the collateral damage of the first three responses.

The final response, that we DEAL with it, is one that takes courage and grace.  For we often fret over another's response and what the outcome will be.  Yet if we deal with the conflicts in our lives, the end goal of healthy relationships can finally be realized. 

Yet the key for all conflict is that both people come to the table with a humility to admit when one is wrong, when one needs to ask for or grant forgiveness and to live into the future with grace toward the other. 

So, what if you began looking at others, and the conflicts that present themselves, as an opportunity to practice grace.  What if each of us is really trying to live whole lives but too often we get sidetracked by the encounter with conflict?  Perhaps if we learned to deal with conflict then we would become a people marked by our willingness to forgive and grant grace!