Many years ago I listened to a preacher share about how his wife would leave the television on at night and sleep off and they lived in a country where you pay based on how long you keep the TV on. Leaving the TV on therefore increases the television bill.

That attitude of his wife would annoy him and he was always angry at his wife for doing that yet it continued. It was obvious it was going to become a strain in the marriage.

Then one day the Holy Spirit asked him, “Is your marriage not worth fifty dollars extra at the end of the month? If this attitude of your wife will mean an extra bill of fifty dollars is it too much to pay for peace to be in your marriage?”

Unlike me my wife is not a morning person. I can wake up by 2:00am, work till 5:00am, go back to bed and still get up by 6:00am and start my day. For my wife, I literally have to drag her out of bed in the morning. Her day begins only after she has had her bath.

In some homes, the wife is the one who goes to the kitchen to heat up water for the family to bathe. I guess it comes naturally with women. In my home, heaven help me if I wait for my wife to do that. I will wait for a long time. So I have resolved to make that my responsibility.

Even when the kids come, I guess I will still have to be the one doing that in the morning because my wife is not a morning person. If that is the price I have to pay for peace to be in my home, it is worth it. We are talking about the price of peace.

The wife of a friend somehow does not monitor the fuel gauge when driving. It is when the car finally stops that she realizes the car has run out of fuel. Guess who she will call? The husband. He will have to be the one to sort out the problem.

After several of such calls he had to find a way around it. He ensures the fuel tank is full at the beginning of the week which will take the wife through the week. That way he does not get any phone call that the car has stopped. It is the price of peace for him.

Let me pause here to say this. What you are seeing here are people who are exercising personal leadership in their lives. The ability to lead oneself is very important in this day and age otherwise you will be tossed by the issues going on. But when you know how to lead yourself you are able to choose your battles. Not every battle is worth fighting.

On the 12th of August, 2017, I will be teaching about personal leadership in a closed Facebook group to as many that are interested in knowing more. The class will help you become a better leader of yourself so you can lead yourself to achieve the kind of result you want in life. The class is an intensive 8 hour session that will completely change your life.

Registration fee for the class is N7,500. If you are interested send an SMS or WhatsApp message to 08038749796 for more details.

Now back to the subject. Yesterday one of my students shared some news with me that just broke my heart. Her son was expelled from a private university here in Nigeria because he defaulted in attending one of the morning devotion programs that is compulsory for all students of the institution to attend.

This program is obviously a religious meeting, so we can say it has nothing to do with academics. But he refused to attend and it has earned him an expulsion. He is a 300 level student in the institution. Just one more year left.

The painful part is that it wasn’t his first time to have defaulted. After the first offence he was made to sign an undertaking that he will never default in it and he did. He probably thought he was smarter than the institution because I don’t see why he refused to attend that meeting knowing what the consequence will be.

I could feel the pain in her voice as she shared the information with me. After all the millions spent in her son’s education just to give him the best a parent can give the child, he could not for the sake of peace attend the morning devotion meetings until he graduated. All he had to do was go there and sit down. Is that too hard to do?

We can begin to cast blame on the institution for making it compulsory for students to attend religious meetings in the school. We can even decide to sue the institution and begin a ten year legal battle. But at the end of the day you signed that you will do this why did you refuse to comply?

Sometimes we need to do things we don’t like for the sake of peace. If it is not too high a price then why not just do it and move on with our lives? Not every battle is worth fighting.

I should also state at this point that you must know that while you may be the one paying the price for peace in certain areas, the other party in the relationship is also paying the price for peace in other areas. Especially in a marriage relationship. No one is perfect. We are all work in progress.

What price have you had to pay for peace? Share with us by posting a comment.

Written by Mute Efe
www.facebook.com/schoolforpersonalleadership

P.S. If you are interested in the personal leadership class I mentioned in the article, remember to send your inquiry to 08038749796. SMS or WhatsApp.