Conflict avoided is conflict deferred — and the interest compounds.

They'd been working around each other for eight months.

The original disagreement was minor — a miscommunication on a project that neither had resolved. Instead of addressing it, they'd adjusted their behavior around each other. Fewer direct conversations. More CC'd emails. Politely professional and genuinely disconnected.

Their manager noticed the tension before either of them acknowledged it. "You two need to have the conversation you've been avoiding."

Matthew 18:15 is inconveniently direct: go to the person. Not to HR first. Not to your work friends. To the person, privately, with the goal of restoration.

Ryan went first. It took twelve minutes to unravel eight months of unnecessary distance. The miscommunication had been exactly that — a miscommunication. Neither had intended harm. Both had assumed the worst and never checked.

They laughed about it afterward. Uncomfortably, then genuinely.

The marketplace is full of unresolved conflict living underground — shaping culture, poisoning teams, and wasting the energy of good people who never had the courage to say: "I think we need to talk."

Being on mission means caring enough about the relationship to do the harder thing.

Identify one relationship at work carrying unresolved tension. Go to that person directly this week — not to win, not to vent, but to restore. Pray before you go. Keep it private. Keep it focused on the relationship, not the issue.

Lord, give me the courage to go directly to people instead of around them. Make me a reconciler in my workplace — someone who cares enough about relationships to do the hard thing.

In Jesus' name, Amen.