The conversations that we refuse to have today will become the arguments of our children and the wars of our grandchildren. Think about that the next time you choose to avoid a difficult conversation about the issues that have been plaguing our society for centuries.

I was recently in a conversation on FreeSpeechTV with correspondent Maeve Conran on the power of courageous conversation. I invite you to check out the conversation and take it to heart.

If you are ready to help us save the future with your present conversations, check out the resources available at Living Room Conversations and other organizations in the Bridging Movement.

If you are part of a community of folks as small as your family or as large as a megachurch and you aren’t challenging yourselves in your conversations your communications are the equivalent of standing water. And elementary science tells us what happens to standing water. But if you don’t know, check out the image below and click it for more info.

The conversations that we participate in are supposed to flow progressively toward a higher ideal for all parties involved. When they don’t, the stagnancy of our conversational encounters have a degrading effect on all of our engagements both in the present moment and successively in generations to come. So the next time you shake your head at a relational element of our society, consider that had our grandparents talked it out, we wouldn’t have to fight it out.