People are often wrong, and sometimes they even admit it! But the fool’s errand of trying to convince someone of your rightness and their wrongness can be exhausting, pointless, and divisive. So what can we do if we think we are in the right and someone else in the wrong? Gloat? Shut down? State our viewpoint louder and more forcefully? Not helpful.

But we can pray. And we can pray as Jesus taught his disciples early in his ministry when he gave them (and us) the Lord’s Prayer. It begins: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9, 10). And in the garden of Gethsemane near the end of his time on earth, when Jesus faced crucifixion, he prayed to God even more emphatically, “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). God’s will is always good, always inclusive, and always brings progress.

So how do we know the difference between God’s will and human will? Well, human will is sometimes pushy, sometimes subtle, but rarely comes from a place of calm trust in good. An indication that we are following God’s will is when we feel at peace. When we are willing to pray, and keep praying, every step of the way. When we are able to humbly ask God to show us the way to heal a rift, argument, or misunderstanding by acknowledging our own spiritual individuality and, even more important, that of everyone else involved.