Fight like a girl!

I've been working ahead on events for this year with LifeWay Women and LifeWay Girls. As I was working on some things for Girls' Ministry Forum I came across this break-out title that I had almost forgotten - "Fight Like A Girl!"

The description reads:

Conflict is an issue that every girl faces. Whether talking to your parents or arguing with your classmates, learning how to work through differences in a healthy way is critical to all of your relationships. This conference will help you discover the tools to creating a win-win situation when you face a problem with another person.

My first thought was I'm so glad my friend Amy is teaching that conference, she will do a great job. My second thought was EVERYONE needs to go to that break-out! It is for the high school girls who are attending the Girls' Ministry Forum in February, but even as adults we face conflict on a daily basis.

Is there anyone else who always finds herself caught in the middle of a conflict? The weird thing is my conflicts are not usually between me and another person (I am too old and life is too short to always be at battle with someone)...they are usually between two other people and I get pulled in for conflict resolution. I hate conflict. I hate trying to help resolve conflict. Why me Lord? I really don't mind if the fight is worth fighting, but frankly, many of the conflicts are based more on immaturity than a real problem.

I guess it (conflict resolution) is a large part of anyone's life who is involved in girls' ministry. How can you live in the midst of girl world without someone, somewhere that is related to the ministry not having some kind of drama? Seriously, at any given time among our middle school and high school girls, there is someone who has some kind of "crisis" happening. If it is not one of the girls, it is her mom or another family member. And more often than not, it is related to a conflict in a relationship.

There are all kinds of programs that have developed to combat bullying, peer pressure, and peer mediation. However, often the behavior changes on the outside, but the conflict remains. It may be surpressed. It may not appear to be there at all. However, the conflict still went unresolved. There are even studies that say teenagers are suggesting that 90% of their conflicts go unresolved. Basically, they do not know how to resolve conflict in healthy ways.

Really? Seriously? But should we be surprised? When we look at the number of unresolved conflicts among adults and the divorce rate, the model we set is influencing kids probably lots more than we know.

I am thinking that this "Fight Like a Girl!" break-out is going to be a HIT! Girls need to hear that conflict is a normal part of life. We are not created to agree with everyone else all the time. We were created to think and form opinions. We are going to have conflict. However, God also expects us to resolve that conflict.

God desires that we are peacemakers, but not conflict avoiders. A peacemaker and a conflict avoider are two very different people.

Well, now I'm pretty stirred up about Girls' Ministry Forum! Make sure your girls know about this break-out when they attend in February! We are looking forward to seeing you there! Now back to my own way of fighting like a girl for today...tackling that unbelievable "to-do" list!