Standing Your Ground vs. Being Flexible

I don’t like the word compromise.

I’ve written about it before, but it is a bugbear to hear it portrayed as a quality commodity.  My approach has been that whenever I take my views and need to revise them for them to be amenable to someone else, if I’m content for that process to happen I’ve taken part in a collaboration.  It is the outcome is a joint venture for which I should be happy to take on collective responsibility and where necessary indicate where credit goes for various aspects of the joint venture.

All joint ventures by their nature require that level of collaboration.  For example the ideal joint venture is marriage.  It”s not about what I want totally and it’s not about what my wife wants totally, it is a collaboration from which comes such joyful outcomes as children, home, hospitality and help.

In that very example I have and continue to learn the hard way of how that collaboration best works.  That’s where the conversations and negotiations that typify successful collaborations kick in.  Those should take time after all this is a significant merger that’s taking place and often the full ramifications are only seen later on, but it is a worthwhile enterprise, not just for marriages, but for other relationships and engagements from the workplace to social clubs to church life.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd