Join me in a study on the Proverbs: God’s Wisdom for Today. As you read through the Proverbs, I urge you to reflect, pray, and apply these devotional bits of encouragement to your own life. Today, we study and reflect on Proverbs 17.
Reflection
I find myself working a lot with people and families seeking to mitigate conflict. While life is full of conflict for every reason you can imagine, I want to challenge us to press through relational conflict to reconciliation and restoration when possible. And as far as it depends on you. While you cannot force someone else to reconcile and resolve a conflict, you can be peaceable and willing to do your part. And that’s an important start. If you are at odds with your spouse, child or parent, sibling, other family member, or someone else, try to initiate conflict resolution. Pray about it. Ask for wisdom and favor. And then come together and talk. First, affirm one another. Second, assert both sides of the concern. Third, express appreciation and understanding of the other persons viewpoint when and where reasonable. Fourth, ascertain what steps each other can take that will lead to resolution. Fifth, agree together that your relationship is important and worth working on. Finally, affirm one another. The truth is, some folks are not interested in the process of conflict resolution. As far as it depends on you, seek to initiate and reconcile differences when you can. Be an instrument of healing and restoration. Be gracious and big-hearted. Be humble. You will often be surprised that the other person is willing and wanting to address and heal the conflict, too.
“Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.” – Proverbs 17:1