He was a talented but difficult young employee, someone who wanted plum assignments without paying the amount of dues that I, the grizzled veteran and manager, thought he should. Of course I was right; I’d been out of college for almost seven years.
We locked horns and locked horns and locked horns. Then, one day things changed. I 
wasn’t sure how or why, but we started talking with each other rather than over each other. He compromised. I compromised. Our customers raved about his articles. After he moved on and earned a graduate degree, he had a very successful, award-winning career.
We reconnected after about twenty years. Over lunch one day, I shared my story about how I had come back to faith. It was then he told me that when our fights were at their worst, he reached out to a prayer line. (The fact that he was so open about his faith probably fueled some of my uneasiness around him when we worked together.) The woman at the other end of the phone prayed with him that he would find favor with me. He acknowledged it was a difficult, humbling prayer, but he did it. And shortly thereafter, as he recalled, things improved between us.
I loved the story. But I never felt moved to pray myself to find favor with someone. Mainly, I pray for the intentions of others or for forgiveness of my numerous flaws and shortcomings. But recently, I found myself at wits’ end in a situation over which I have even less control than my former employee did. So, after grumbling a bit, I put aside my personal emotions and did it.
And you know what?
It’s working.
Thanks, God.
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