What is your story?

I guarantee that I believe something differently than you do.

Some of those beliefs may even shock you.

And I’m sure some of your beliefs would surprise me, too.

And yet, I wonder if we have to take others’ beliefs so personally, especially if they aren’t hurting others (which I also know tends to be a tough part of this conversation).

Instead of taking your beliefs as something personal against me, I try to stay curious.

How did you get there?

What about where you have come from, what you have been through, and what you fear and love has brought you to these beliefs?

What is your story?

And then I ask you to listen to mine.

And then, even if we can’t agree, which just isn’t going to happen on some of these things, we can find our common humanity that we both have stories full of where we’ve been, what we’ve endured, and what we hold dear.

And we remember that we have way more in common than we don’t and that it is our differences that make this life and our relationships so much richer.

In that authentic connection, maybe we’ll learn something new from each other.

Not to try to convince one another or change each others’ minds or shame and blame, rather to learn, grow, and live in this broken world as the messy people we are together.