Saturday Self-Awareness
During the holiday season, past and present disappointments in our relationships can make it difficult to love well. Taking stock of what has shaped your relationships can prevent you from being blindsided by unhealthy patterns.
- If you look realistically at past interactions with high-conflict people in your life, what characteristics in them seem to contribute to that conflict?
- What patterns of behavior in you feed the conflict?
- Why are you prone to choosing those responses?
- Is the conflict something you can address with the other person, or would that be ill-advised based on your past experiences with them?
- What choices can you make to shift the dynamic of your interaction with them so that you can offer a taste of Jesus’ goodness without getting looped into old patterns?
- What can you actively do to stir either affection toward, concern for the well-being of, or redemptive prayer on behalf of the other person?
- What places in your own heart are in need of God’s tenderness and your own patience?