April 29, 2014
April 17, 2014
"A Woman’s Question" by: Lena Lathrop
Do you know you have asked for the costliest thing
Ever made by the hand above?
A woman’s heart, and a woman’s life—
And a woman’s wonderful love.
Do you know you have asked for this priceless thing
As a child might ask for a toy?
Demanding what others have died to win,
With the reckless dash of a boy.
You have written my duty out,
Manlike, you have questioned me.
Now stand at the bars of my woman’s soul
Until I shall question thee.
You require your dinner shall always be hot,
Your socks and your shirt be whole;
I require your heart be true as God’s stars
And as pure as His heaven, your soul.
You require a cook for your chicken and beef,
I require a far greater thing;
A seamstress you’re wanting for socks and shirts—
I look for a man and a king.
A king for the beautiful realm called home,
And a man that his Maker, God
Shall look upon as He did the first
And say: “It is very good.”
I am fair and young, but the rose may fade
From this soft young cheek some day;
Will you love me then ‘mid falling leaves,
As you did ‘mong the blossom of May?
Is your heart an ocean so strong and true,
I may launch my all on its tide.
A loving woman finds heaven or hell
On the day she is made a bride.
I require all things that are grand and true,
All things that a man should be;
If you give this all, I would stake my life
To be all you demand of me.
If you cannot be this, a laundress and cook
You can hire and little to pay,
But a woman’s heart and a woman’s life
Are not to be won that way.
April 11, 2014
"Managing Conflict Creatively" Summary
There was once a
town that sat on the top of a large beautiful cliff. The only problem was that
sometimes the children would be playing outside, and every once in a while a
child would slip and fall off the cliff. The towns’ people decided to do
something to solve this terrible problem. They decided to build a hospital at
the foot of the cliff so that when the children fell off, they could be picked
up quickly and have immediate care. Farther up the side of the mountain there
lived an old wise miser. When he heard
about the town’s problem, and what they had done to solve it, he asked the
people, “Would it not be a better solution to build a fence at the top of the
cliff to prevent the children from falling off the edge and getting hurt in the
first place?”
Managing conflict
is similar to the story above. Some of the key principles that stood out from
reading “Managing Conflict Creatively”
by Donald C. Palmer were first of all that “Conflict well managed is conflict
that is managed continuously and in its early stages.” In
the story, the town had a problem, but instead of addressing it at its source
or root, the people tried to fix the problem after the damage had already been
done.
Though this solution is not wrong and is better than no solution, it is
far better to stop the problem before permanent injury is done. Thus the
principle of continually dealing with
conflict before it has time to simmer and develop into a serious issue is crucial. Every ministry is a combination
of many different people and thus many different personalities. In such
environments it is impossible to avoid conflict. If these conflicts are not
resolved quickly and in a systematic way, they will eventually fester and
develop into crippling problems.
Another
foundational principle is realizing that conflict itself, is not sinful or
wrong. Conflict is not only natural, but can be healthy and is a catalyst of
growth when handled correctly. The caution here is to not fall into sin when
disagreements arise. “Whenever love is lost to hatred, gentleness to
maliciousness, truthfulness to dishonesty, humility to selfishness; it is sin.” Like many things in the Christian walk, conflict management is predominantly
about finding a balance between extremes.
One of the major
causes of conflict in ministry specifically, is poor leadership. The roots of
conflicts with leadership vary, but one of the most prominent is miscommunicated
expectations. A practical principle to actively help prevent conflict in
ministry is to simply communicate expectations clearly. For example, if a
missionary talks to his mission board and understands that he is expected to
spend so many hours a week networking or raising funds then he can be held
accountable to do so. If however, this expectation was not clearly understood
by the missionary because the mission board had not clearly communicated, it
could be the beginning of a conflict that, if not resolved, could result in the
missionary getting frustrated and leaving the field. Sadly, situations like the
example above are not uncommon. That however, should only encourage seeking to
solve conflict more, before it becomes a problem, and ultimately hinders God’s
Kingdom moving forward.
The wise miser in
the story saw that though the hospital at the bottom of the cliff was a good
thing, it would be even better to prevent the children from falling off the
cliff in the first place. Be like the old miser and commit to resolving
conflicts before they fester and grow into church-splitting, ministry
handicapping problems. Let conflict be the catalyst for positive change and the
inspiration for new growth so that God’s Kingdom can be expanded and He can ultimately
be glorified!
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