Intent

In every relationship, team, and community, there are moments of uncertainty, confusion, and conflict.  I have yet to find any relationship where these elements to not exist in some size, shape, or form.  The questions that emerge from their existence reinforce the premise that it is not if but when they will find their way into the middle of what it means to be alive.  You and I have each in our lives.  The heart of the living rests is our response.  What will we do when we are uncertain about another's words, actions, and choices?  How will we respond to the confusion that comes up in the daily reality of being engaged with others in the business of living?  Is there an ideal way to deal with conflict?
With each question, there are two underlying questions that I find myself repeatedly struggling with.  What is the intent of the other person in the relationship?  Reciprocally, what is my intent?  The answer to these changes everything that follows.  If I trust our intent, then anything is possible.  As I trust the intent of the other, I open myself up to Hope's guidance and Compassion's mercy.  With truth filled intent that nurtures and accepts, every uncertainty, confusion, and conflict can be a step into a better future.
It may be a blinding statement of the obvious, but rarely if ever is a community filled with this kind of intent.  I have touched this kind of community briefly.  I can witness to its ongoing power in my life.  I can also speak to the fact that even though it rarely exists that this does not change the wonderful beauty in aspiring to its reality.  The process begins in my life and yours.  We can be agents of its birth.  We can be vehicles of its reality.  We can be the reality of this kind of intent in the relationships we have.  I believe it is our calling today.
“They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.”  (Acts 2.45)