I told you guys the other day that I would share how we used our simple living guidelines in conflict resolution with our children.
The girls came in a while back and, except for one, they were having a bit of a fuss. Nothing major, but enough that I could tell they were pretty frustrated with other.
In our home we have a general rule that if there is conflict, you solve it with the person in whom you are engaged in it with. If DD #2 is fussing with DD #4, then they need to solve it together. They can't go to DD #3 or to me. The exception is if someone does something that is physically harmful or uses words that are harmful.
So, I could tell three of the girls were not happy with each other and it seemed to drag on. I was silently praying through the situation for them when the Lord put on my heart that we should use our simple living guidelines.
Without allowing them to tell me who did what, I asked them if they each:
were being content,
showing love,
working with their hands,
minding their own business,
and responding in ways that are not dramatic, but easy to understand.
With this one question one daughter said that she was not working as hard as she should have with her hands. Another admitted that she got herself involved in the conflict by not minding her own business. And the third said she had responded in a way that was probably dramatic.
Soon after, I then heard them outside the library door apologizing to each other.
What a blessing for all of us! It is so nice when the Lord uses lessons that He shares with us in one part of our lives to apply to another.
So for my final question of how I apply simple living, I have found that I apply it to everything!
My relationships, my schedule, my workload, our homeschooling...EVERYTHING!!
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