Strife vs. peace

I just got done looking up the word “strife.”  I love my built-in Thesaurus on my computer, it makes research so easy!  Anyway, the word strife means trouble, conflict, discord, contention, fighting, dissension, friction, rivalry.  Anyway way you paint it, having this as part of your life is going to make for problems to exist between you and others!

I am on a quest for peace in my life and while listening to Joyce Meyer’s broadcast this morning, she made this statement, “there will always be people in your life that you just can’t stand to be near……you know, like one of you is the armpit and the other is the nose!”  OMG, isn’t that the truth! But I’ll add, once in a while you have a cold!

The fact of the matter though, is that we have been called to a life where if we portend to live as Christ has instructed us, then we are to live what would amount to being peaceful lives.  Now, the last time I looked at peace, it didn’t have strife associated with it!

A friend and I have been taking variouis books of the Bible and breaking them down chapter by chapter for the past 6 weeks or so.  We then get together and discuss our thoughts.  Anyone who knows me well knows that this is so different from anything I’ve ever done in the past, and it has opened a whole new world to me.  I can only say that I reached a time in my life when I felt God was not just knocking on the door, but in essence emphatically rapping with a persistence that ignoring Him wasn’t an option for me.

Listening to Him though is quite different, because you have to listen in the little things or you get walloped by the big things!  Take this issue of wanting peace in my life.  It was pointed out to me this morning that if “I” want peace in my life than “I” have to be the one to not take offense or be hurt or angered or anxious or disappointed by each and every little thing that happens to me, which may or may not be caused by you.  “My” attitude has to be one of forgiveness, even if I’m not in the wrong.  You may need to go back and re-read that sentence……I typed it and I had to!

See “My” peace is up to me, no one else!  This is then where it starts to get complicated.  Let’s say you and I don’t agree on something, and I know that I am right….well, the lesson about all this is not about who is right or wrong, it’s about peace and as long as I have to be right, then peace isn’t going to miraculously happen.  It was stated that the most beneficial way to handle this, might be to state, "I believe I’m right, although I may be wrong, I just don’t want to fight about it" – end of subject.  Let me know how that works for you!

What happens though is that many times, we put on our “holier than thou” smile, gritting our teeth as we “give in” and wonder why God’s gift of peace still eludes us, I mean, we did acquiesce didn’t we?  But did we?  Can you not tell when someone begrudgingly allows you to have your way?

I know people who think that just because they pray, or go to church or do a Bible study, that they are extoling Christian attitudes……but what was pointed out to me this morning was that it is all fine and good that they do these things, but God’s gift of peace will continue to evade them like same poles of a magnet and the reason is, because they have only covered over the problem, not dealt with it.  Try as we may, we can’t dodge God when He aims to hit us!  He knows what we hide deep down inside!

This is strife.  We perform well in most or even all areas of our lives but one or a few, and wonder why God doesn’t answer our prayer for peace.  We work harder, but not in the area where the attention is really needed.  Other times we might just have to declare the issue a moot point and move on.  I have found myself at this point recently and will admit to being unwilling to let it go….probably because I know I’m right!  The only thing I can do in these situations is to totally hand them over to God, allowing Him to work through the circumstances and realize that these relationships are ones where I must not be meant to be in them, whether it is at this time or ever!

I kinda take those things hard, because I “think” I see a positive where there isn’t much of a connection at all!  Peace does not have strife at its roots and excuses just seem to me to be embedded with rationalizations of discord.  These areas are the ones where God may need to take His pruning shears out.  Pruning isn’t fun, but it does grant new life and health!  Sometimes God's pruning is the equivalent to a bad haircut!  I've had my share of those!  But, with God, the ugly duckling, turns into the beautiful swan.

Looking up! ~ Barb