A Prayer to Value Friendship Over Disagreements by Janet Thompson

A friend loves at all times, proverb 17-17.

Sadly, during this current political climate, we witnessed adult meltdowns among friends

and relatives who found it difficult, even impossible, to disagree politically and remain

friends.

Many tell stories of family members disowning them, political disagreements turned personal.

And it isn't just political disagreements that can lead to divisiveness.

I have family members who keep their distance because I'm a Christian.

You probably do too.

We all have a right to our beliefs, but it shouldn't end our relationship, our friendship, or our

family ties. Friendships should be a safe place to disagree. If you have a variety of friends,

you're going to have a variety of differing opinions, you can learn from each other.

In our couple small group, we get into some heavy exchanges of opinions, but we always know that

at the end of the group we'll pray, have dessert and coffee together, and leave us friends.

After one evening of especially heated discussion, one person prayed that they were grateful we

respected each other enough that we could express our thoughts openly, but still maintain our friendships.

We're still friends in Christ, even though we disagree on some spiritual issues.

We get into disagreements because we want the other person to acknowledge we're right.

Sometimes we care more about being right than our truth helping the other person.

My granddaughter was trying to share Jesus with two friends of a different faith,

and they ended up in a disagreement. I asked my granddaughter whether her motivation was

compassion for her friend's salvation or wanting to be right. If it was their salvation,

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