James 4:1 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?
Once upon a time, I lived in an Episcopal Service Corps volunteer community. This was a high-commitment, high-emotional-stakes endeavor. We purposely entered into tender conversations and tried to work through immense differences in an effort to build a caring Christian community. Not surprisingly, a generous amount of conflict ensued between us.
Be it parent issues or money stuff or other dysfunctions in our families of origin, much of our emotional messiness surfaced in the ways we tried to relate to one another. Children develop amazing survival strategies to get through their difficulties, but those strategies do not always serve us well as adults. I have spent much of my early adult life calming the tensions at war within me—those things I cognitively know to be true are at war with little me, who wants to duck my head under the covers, simply trying to survive.
MOVING FORWARD: What are three ways you can help calm your own internal tensions?
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