Friday, March 5, 2010

Aww, man. I forgot about scheduling conflicts...

But even though I'm late, I figure I'll write this post anyway.

As we talked about dealing with conflict, I initially thought, "No way, what kind of conflict could there be in a Sunday School class?" Then I remembered that working with tricky doctrine opens up all sorts of opportunities for clashing ideas and egos.

In fact, I had an experience like that about a while ago while teaching about the Fall of Adam. Of course I won't go into any detail; suffice it to say that a couple of my students had some very strong opinions about one of the more ambiguous points and had the beginnings of a...tiff. Nothing really nasty happened during the lesson, because the people in my class are awesome. However, I had to work to stay calm; keep my eyes, ears, and mind open; and encourage my students to do the same. As we did so, we were blessed with the presence of the Holy Spirit, who helped us come to an understanding of the truth, at whatever level each of us needed at the time.

So the lesson went well, and I was happy to move on with my Sunday. But later that afternoon, one of the participants in the almost-argument surprised and impressed me with a very humble apology in the form of an e-mail. I'm grateful to say that I was able to forgive him right away; and while I have forgotten his offense, I have remembered this experience as I prepared and taught other lessons.

I think that in my specific leadership role, the most important things for resolving conflict are keeping an open mind and relying on the Holy Ghost to do the real teaching and testifying of the truth. I pray that I can make these ideas a part of me and that they will manifest themselves in my actions as I continue to lead and serve Heavenly Father's children in the BYU 153rd Ward.

EYN

1 comment:

  1. Emily,

    It was fun to see you on campus this morning. I also want to thank you for the depth and thought you so clearly put into your blog. Great work, and keep it up!

    ReplyDelete