“Emphasize reconciliation, not resolution. It is unrealistic to expect everyone to agree about everything. Reconciliation focuses on the relationship, while resolution focuses on the problem. When we focus on reconciliation, the problem loses significance and often becomes irrelevant.”
— Rick Warren

Reading these words this morning from Rick Warren reminded me of a conversation I had about a week ago with someone. We were talking about special education and during that conversation I was reminded of something that was engrained in me during my Special Education classes at Western Washington University. When talking about children (or adults) with disabilities it is so very important to say “children with disabilities” or a “child with disabilities”, as opposed to “disabled children”. How I eye-opening! The most critical part is the child or the person, not the disability. A simple change in word order empowers the individual! Takes the ownership away from the disability.

May it be that I, that we, never describe a person by their “problem”. Not by their abilities or disabilities. Nor by the color of their skin, by their language, by the material things they do or don’t have, nor by the object of their faith or the absence of one. You get the idea.

At the end of our day, our lives are about people. It is about the relationships we form with them and how we might in even some small way move them further, or for the first time, into relationship with the one true God.