Today, I want you to play a game. Maybe a challenge is a better way to think of it. We’ll call it the Uncommonly Common Challenge.
Today, I want you to find similarities where it would be easier to see differences. I’m challenging you to look at people with whom it seems you have nothing in common and still find something you each share. Find the common in the uncommon.
[Tweet “Look for similarities where it would be easier to see differences and you’ll make the connections that ignite hope.”]I first learned the power of seeing what we all have in common on mission trips to foreign countries. At first, I’d feel frustrated with all the barriers that made the work harder: different languages, different customs, different diets. It just seemed as if everything about me and the people I wanted to serve was different! If you stay in that mindset, it doesn’t take long for everything to feed the frustration: the heat feels hotter, the hunger feels hungrier, the bugs get buggier.
But when I started to look past the differences, I would always see what we had in common: pain, needs, hope, laughter, smiles. In some cases, we even shared a love for Jesus.
When I took the time to see past the differences and find the uncommonly common, something would inevitably shift. What we had in common would overcome what we didn’t, and I would find myself bonding with people with whom I apparently had nothing in common.
Connection begins when something common emerges. Today, fight to find the common in the uncommon and make the connection that ignites hope.
