Looking for Common Ground EP 432

Welcome to your Daily Dose of Hope. I’m Phyllis Nichols.

Recently, I was working at a coffee shop, and there were people on either side of me who were clearly on first dates.

Apparently, Sunday morning coffee is a popular way to meet someone.

Both couples were talking loudly enough that I could hear them. Sometimes they got pretty animated. I eventually put my earbuds in so I could concentrate, but before I did, I noticed something.

They were sharing little pieces of their lives, hoping to find common ground.

Where they grew up. What they liked to do. Places they’d been. Things they enjoyed.

They were listening for that moment when they could say, “Oh, me too!”

And I thought, that’s a pretty good idea for the rest of us.

We live in a world where our differences can feel very loud. And some of those differences are significant. We don’t all see things the same way, and we’re not going to agree on everything.

But I wonder how often we approach someone already thinking about where we’ll disagree.

What might we learn if we got curious first?

What do they enjoy? Who matters to them? What are they looking forward to? What’s something they’ve been working on?