Last night I opened an old journal and found something I had written about 10 years ago. I was in an office situation where there was a lot of division, and I remember being so frustrated. I was complaining and thinking, if people would just do their jobs correctly, things would be so much better.
But God started showing me something through the picture of two magnets.
If you try to push two magnets together the wrong way, north pole to north pole or south pole to south pole, they repel each other. You can try to force them together, but there is this invisible push keeping them apart.
That’s what discord can feel like. People may be in the same room, working on the same things, but something keeps pushing everyone apart. There’s no unity, no peace, no willingness to come together.
But the answer is not to get a new magnet. The answer is to flip one of the magnets around.
And I felt like God was showing me that was the answer in that office too. I didn’t necessarily need new coworkers, a new boss, or a new job. I needed to let Him flip my attitude. I needed to pray for the people who were frustrating me, speak life instead of complaining, and start believing the best instead of assuming the worst.
That’s not always easy, especially when you feel like you’re not the problem. But sometimes God begins the work of unity by changing what is happening in our own hearts.
Ephesians 4:1-3 says, “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
That verse doesn’t say unity happens when everyone else finally acts right. It talks about humility, gentleness, patience, love, and being eager to maintain peace.
So maybe the prayer is, “Lord, flip my attitude where it needs to be flipped. Help my words bring peace instead of division. Help me be someone who moves toward unity, even when it would be easier to complain.”
Because sometimes the situation starts to change when God changes me first.