What a strange week. But I am managing to publish a Five Minute Friday post. I’ll link at Kate’s place in the Community section on Facebook at  fiveminutefriday.com and scan through the incredible work of my fellow writers. As I always say, you should try it as well — both writing and contributing or at least visiting the sites of this talented crew.

I’ve also been sharing other takes on the value of the exercise, taken from snippets found in Five Minute Friday: A Collection of Stories Written in Five Minutes Flat, compiled by Susan Shipe as an added inducement to join in. Here’s Catherine’s take.

“Five Minute Friday is so much fun!! But more than that, it inspires me write words that otherwise wouldn’t have been written.”

The timer is set for the prompt, COMPROMISE. GO …

If you’ve ever been married or participated in a team project, you know the value of compromise. You quickly learn your point of view (POV) is not necessarily the same as your souse’s or colleagues’. Our experiences vary. Our history varies. You learn you have to give a little here, take a little there and, most importantly, work together for the common good. Things rarely are black or white, but shades of gray and a whole palette of colors.

That’s why it i so important to keep the whole  picture — the ultimate goal — in full view.

Theology is the same. Our goal is to get to heaven. That’s why we were created. While there are some basic, immutable truths — the what — there are a host of ways and means — the hows. As Christians, no one would argue Jesus is the Way, yet we often get bogged down the the hows. Catholics and Protestants have … STOP

… different paths. Mainline and charismatics journey down different roads. Small, rural churches might disagree with methods employed at megachurches. Even our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters have points of view to consider. And anyone who has served on a church board knows the color of the carpet or choir robes can overshadow the mission.

No one argues our sinful starting point nor our ultimate ending point — being reunited with God — but there is a whole lot of compromising to go through along the way — not compromising Truth, but compromising the peripherals. We have a map — the bible — but there are a zillion interpretations. It’s important to recognize those interpretation, where they came from, how they were developed. And the way we do that is to start by listening, opening hearts to discernment, and focusing on the ultimate goal.

We don’t live in a vacuum. We live in fellowship with the world — each member with its history, culture, experiences. We need to embrace those. We need to understand them. We have to approach change not with an “I’m right … you’re wrong” attitude but the recognition we’re both a little right and we’re both a little wrong. If we can honestly come from that point, I’m pretty sure we can find we have a lot more in common than we think and focus on that. It’s called compromise.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing.