Tough People

I can easily get quite taken with a wistful series of “what if’s”. Like “what if we all just agreed with each other more” or even just simply talked to each other more openly. Yes, its’ true, I’m distracted by the way I think things could be.

This is most troublesome when it comes to people. The very means by which we can reach our greatest achievements are just as often the largest obstacles along the way: free thinking, born with a mind of their own, seeing the world through their very own knot-hole, and not always cooperating, people.

All too often our ‘resistors’ become the ‘enemy’, but that’s an incredibly debilitating way to think about it. For starters it makes it far too personal to assume that these people are actually pitted against us – not just our ideas. Or, as is often the case, it doesn’t even have to do with anything about us or our ideas at all. It’s really about them, and what they bring to the table and what they carry with them into all situations. In fact, it’s more about what all of us bring to the table, period. Conflict is a fact of being human.

So, just like “throw up” is a fact of having a baby in your life, conflict is a fact of having people in your life. It’s a side effect of human nature. And as we grow up, the throw up never goes away, it just changes. Thankfully, it’s no longer the shirt staining stink of digestive projectile. But perhaps more unfortunately, instead of just stinking, this new kind of throw up actually deeply hurts.

But here’s something which may be a brand new way of thinking about it. Instead of, “This person is doing this because of me” how about “This person is doing this because it’s something we all do.” And then your resistors are no longer ‘the enemy’, now they are simply the means of greater maturity. Conflict becomes a natural part of the landscape. It’s the trees we must walk through in order to be in the forest. And even more than that, it’s the ‘monkey bars’, if you will, that God can use to make you stronger. (If you let it of course).

It fits with that adage: “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. Or… well… at least it can make you smarter… or… at least… well… well… at least it didn’t kill you.

Something to think about,

Chris