I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. Psalm 119:58

Your parents (someone) likely taught you to keep your promises. But what about a compromise? What lessons did you learn about the word that looks so similar but feels different? We easily distort it. We can misconstrue compromise to think it involves giving up of something, when it’s just as much about the giving of something: a promise. Compromise is literally a “promise together.”

Compromise is finding common ground and standing firmly on it. Imagine yourself standing on your territory – not the territory you want but the territory God gave you for this lifetime. Your God-given territory includes relationships, gifts, passions, opportunities, and all God gives you in the yesterday, today, and tomorrow of life on earth.

Your territory isn’t exclusive from everyone else’s around you. If God brings someone into your life, there will always be common ground.

Do you ever plant your feet and determine not to move?

Do you get frustrated when someone else does the same?

What about the rest of our territory? We don’t need to plant our feet in one place. We need to walk throughout our territory, becoming familiar with every aspect of it. Only then can we fully embrace what God has planned for us. Only then can we find the common ground with others. Only then can we truly compromise with others.

We take steps, no matter how unsettling it is, find common ground, and promise to stand together. We’re still standing on God-given territory. We’re not giving away anything God doesn’t intend for us to relinquish (if we’re staying in the boundaries of our territory). We might be tempted to yield too much at times, leaving where God intends to please someone.

Stay in your territory. Find common ground. Keep your promises together.

Look for an opportunity to find common ground today. Ask God to reveal the boundaries of your God-given territory. Become familiar with it.