Mike Smith:
This week, I’m talking with Ken Sande, the founder and president of Peacemakers Ministries. Ken, thanks for being with us today.
Ken Sande:
Thank you, Mike! It’s great to be with you!
Mike:
Ken, you’ve used biblical peacemaking principles to help hundreds of families resolve conflict. On any given day, conflict in a family is almost guaranteed. How do you suggest knowing when to overlook an offense, as opposed to actually addressing it and resolving it?
Ken:
Well, I’ve got lots of practice at that Mike. When we homeschooled, I was often in my study, and I could hear voices getting a little bit more tense downstairs by the minute. One thing I learned is you can’t intervene in everything. It’s just like you have a hundred pennies at the beginning of the day, and you decide, “Where am I going to spend my pennies?” You could use them up in the first hour of homeschool! So, you’ve got to pray for wisdom, first of all, just when and how am I going to do this?
Secondly, you want to go after blatant disobedience, serious harm, patterns that keep repeating themselves. And when you do it, you want to make sure you make it count. Not just nagging, but bring real consequences, bring the gospel, real encouragement, so it really matters.
Mike:
Well, thank you, Ken. That’s great perspective. And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.
