“God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.”
Matthew 5:9 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.5.9.NLT
One of the challenges in leadership is working for peace.
Reflection
Peacemaking in leadership values getting people to work together in supportive ways. It allows space for differences of opinion while building bridges of genuine care and concern.
The organization's policies and practices place a strong focus on the well-being of the people you work with.
Reconciliation matters. While no one can be forced to make things work with another person, a good leader is gently tenacious about the need for it and the peace it creates.
The challenge for leaders is that we often use the authority of our position or the enforcement of a new policy to run over people affected by our decisions.
A good leader takes the extra time to come alongside team members with the message of “I know this new direction has an impact on you, and I wanted to check in to see how you are doing with it and make sure you understand why it is necessary to move in this direction.”
This is working for peace as a leader.
Encouragement
Listen to this short video that encouraged me about peace-making from the Museum of the Bible:
Leaders who learn peace-making become known as the children of God. The world can use more of this.
Prayer
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for your words on peace-making.
Holy Spirit, guide us as we do the quiet work of investing in people, building bridges, mending relational fences, and helping people build each other up.
Guard us, as leaders, from using power, position, or policy to be dismissive of others and to ignore the impact our decision-making has on them.
Please don’t let us accept or cultivate a culture where people are expendable. Rather, through the quiet work of peacemaking, help us to build others up and invest in them.
Thank you for the result of thoughtful peace-making being identified as your child.
In your name, Jesus, we pray,
Amen
Ed McDowell