17 of 31 Days of Five Minute of Free Writes: AVOID

I used to avoid confrontation and conflict. You see, I am a recovering people pleaser.  I hated the thought of anyone disliking me or thinking I disliked them.  I wanted to be known as a loving person, and this sometimes me at being a pushover. What I have learned through the years, is that sometimes avoiding conflict or confrontation is the most unloving thing we can do- for ourselves and for others. Initially facing conflict and confrontation might be unpleasant. In the long term, it can be beneficial.

I cannot go through the process of how to approach conflict and confrontation in a healthy way because I only have five minutes. I will end what Jesus told his disciples:

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matthew 18:15-17).

17 of 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes: PERSON

I am not the same person I was ten years ago. I am not the same person I was even just four years ago. Some people take pride in being the same, unchanging person through the years, but I don’t. I believe that we are meant to continually grow and improve- make progress with ourselves and our lives. It isn’t a vertical, linear progress. It’s more of a scribble. You go up a little then go through a loop de loop that sets you back a few steps, then you’re on a plateau, and you go back up again, sometimes you might even just free fall straight down. But all the while you’re slowly but surely making progress upward.

This progress isn’t to a destination. It is a transformation.  I’d like to think that my own transformation is one that makes me more and more like Christ.  To surrender, and allow God to do His Work in my heart, and even if I take a few steps back, I am not discouraged because, “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 4:6).

16 of 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes: CONSISTENT

I am not always a consistent person. I’m not one of those people you can see your clock on.  I start something and then find something else to start. In the last year, I have been trying so hard to be more consistent.

This is especially true with my faith. I’d like to think that I am consistent in trusting the Lord with all my heart, but that isn’t always the case. You can tell because when something happens that shakes me, I panic. There’s no peace of God there. 

I want to be immovable and, as Paul wrote, “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain,” (1 Corinthians 15:8).