Doug Mendenhall is Journalist in Residence at Abilene (Texas) Christian University and an instructor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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On Scripture: Rising Above the Low-Water Mark of 2013 (Ephesians 1:3-14)

by Doug Mendenhall 12-30-2013
jesadaphorn/shutterstock

2013 was full of bickering in political and public spheres. jesadaphorn/shutterstock

O gracious God, we thank you for getting us through 2013 — cantankerous, contentious bickering mess that it was on many public and political fronts — and we pray that you will help us to look back on it as the low-water mark from which American society emerged more civil and united.

For us to see an answer to that prayer, we must resolve to begin 2014 by climbing into stronger, healthier relationships with other people — not waiting stubbornly for them to come around to our way of thinking but deliberately moving to a position from which we love them more, understand them better, and honor our God in a new way.

Move far enough in this way, and we will turn our fractious society upside down.