An invitation to share with a group of ladies from All the World Christian Center in Grants Pass led to this fun, revealing and connecting exercise. God gave me this idea briefly during a time of prayer for this specific meeting, but it can be adapted for a variety of settings.

Set Up:

First I read Ephesians 4:2,3 in the Amplified Bible. 2 [Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another. 3 Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace.

I also read Proverbs 24:3 Through wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established.

I pointed out that the more we understand each other the better the house of the Lord is established. Learning see from another’s point of view helps all of us “make allowances and love one another”.

I then divided the women into three different groups, based on their “season” of life. The first group was those who were single, the second those who were married with children at home, and finally married with adult children. (If the specific make up of the group lent itself to four groupings, it would have been better. I would have separated the younger single women from the older ones.) Each of these groups was separated to different areas of the room.

Each group was handed a piece of paper and pen and asked to choose one member who would be the scribe to write the responses. They were given 5 minutes to discuss and list their top five life issues they faced as women of their particular season group.

(As monitor I wanted them to stay on the task and hoped the time limit would help them do so.)

After the five or so minutes were up, I asked them to turn their papers over and write the top five issues of the other groups. (Groans and moans emanated!) Another 5 minutes or so passed.

We then re-assembled in one large group. Using a white board with a different dry erase marker color for each group we then asked each group to list their top five issues.

It was interesting to watch the women’s faces as they began to share. The members of the other groups would wonder if they had gotten it “right or wrong”. I kept telling them, there is no right or wrong. The goal is for us to begin to understand those who are different than ourselves in a better way. Again I emphasized Proverbs 24:3 by understanding will the house be established.

Then using the same color marker as I had for each group, I wrote down their list of perceived issues from each group for each group. That was probably the most enlightening. Some were funny, some were quite right on, and some seemed to miss the mark. However, with grace, love and laughter they all seemed to grasp the need to enlarge their understanding of the issues facing their sisters. One gal in particular was able to share the difficulty of having an older parent with health issues and how stressful and time consuming it was to help him.

We closed in prayer for each group. God moved and touched their hearts and lives. It was a precious time.

Here is a special follow up e-mailed to us by Kim Simmons, the lovely pastor’s wife: Grandma Kay told the church on Wednesday evening that the ladies' meeting was so good and everyone was treated as very important, even a 93 year old lady. "Every one is important to God." Ladies also commented again that they have a new understanding and appreciation for each other. "We are different, yet the same."