"And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace" (James 3:18).
I had an opportunity today to fight fire with fire. Someone who has repeatedly hurt me for years did it again. A malicious accusatory tone came through in an e-mail and I wanted to fight back.
In fact, I did . But I slowed it down by asking for help. I spewed out the same venom that had been spit on me. But I sent my message to two brothers and asked for their help.
They both came back with the same response: take out the references to the other person. Take out the accusations. Attack the problem, not the person.
They were right. I was stirring up more problems than making peace.
I re-wrote my response. Not ignoring or denying the problems that the other person had created, just not giving more reasons for further attacks.
Will it end the abuse? Probably not.
Will it heal up old wounds? Not likely.
But I know that I have not done anything to further disrupt the relationship. Nothing that I've said has given ground for further attacks. I don't have to fear a caustic rebuttal.
And I'm thankful for the two brothers who toned me down and tuned my heart to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment