Finding Common Ground

A couple of weeks ago, I had a conversation with a woman that has stuck with me. I've actually found myself repeating one phrase she said over and over again.

We were talking about why she volunteers as a greeter at a local nonprofit, and here's what she said:

You can always find common ground if you dig deep enough.

I've been rolling those words through my mind again and again. She probably doesn't think about it anymore, but I sure am.

Your husband, family and close friends are probably easy to talk to because you already have common ground between you. But what about the checker at the grocery store? The new people at church? The neighbor that you haven't really spoken to? Those might be a little more intimidating.

So why don't we take the time to dig deep enough and find the common ground? Here are the few reasons I came up with, just off the top of my head:

* Fear
* Laziness
* Comfort Zone
* Fear
* Disinterest
* Judgmental Attitude
* Fear

But if we never approach people, we're losing out on some amazing opportunities. As a newspaper reporter, I have a shoe in the door to talk to several new people every day. If you're not in a position to talk like this, it might be a little more difficult.

So picture this - you can either shut yourself off and never find common ground with anyone, or you can put forth the effort to dig a little deeper and find your common ground with many different people. Think of all those opportunities to be a blessing, to share your testimony and to brighten someone's day with a smile.

If there some common ground around you that you need to excavate?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holland Creme - That Amazing White Stuff In Donuts

Image
I remember going to the grocery store every Saturday morning when I was growing up, and my favorite place in the entire store was the donut case. All the glazed, powdered and filled baked goods drew me like a magnet. My favorites, far and away, were the ones filled with that beautiful white, fluffy creme. At the time I didn't know it was called Holland Creme - I just knew it was the most amazing concoction ever. Ever. Here is my version of this sweet treat. You can make your own fried donuts and fill them, or like I did here, you can cut a crevice into store-bought donuts with a knife and fill them with creme in a piping bag. Either way, you're going to love it. Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup shortening 1 cup butter 1 Tbsp vanilla 7 cups powdered sugar 1. Make a simple syrup by combining sugar and water in a sauce pan over medium heat until boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool complet...
Read more

Recovering An Old Card Table And Making It Usable Again

Image
This card table recover project has been on my to-do list for months. I've been using it as my workspace in the craft room for quite some time, and it sees a lot of abuse. Here it is now, with a neutral cover on it so I can take better pictures for my tutorials. There were dents and dings in the old blue covering from metal tools. And yes, I've used my embossing heat tool on it several times, leaving pretty good scars. The padding underneath the blue cover also made it difficult to keep paper crafts flat when adhering them together, so it was time for something new. That's where a simple vinyl tablecloth comes in handy. The process to recover the table is pretty simple, but I learned a couple of lessons the hard way. I share them with you now. First, don't do this on any surface but a carpet. I tried it on the deck int he sunshine to get better pictures, but all it did was tear up the cover. Second, get a second pair of hands to help you kee...
Read more

Crafts For Teen Girls To Make

Image
In our teen girls Bible study, we're studying our way through the Proverbs 31 woman and it's been such a blessing to me, as I hope it's been to them. Every month we spend an afternoon or an evening together studying Scripture, making something amazing in the kitchen and creating something that corresponds to the verse we're in. Choosing the crafts each time can be a challenge for several reasons. It needs to be something they can completely finish (or do most of) because once they leave they're probably not going to work on it themselves - that's just the nature of teenagers. Remember? It also needs to be a project that keeps they're attention, is age-appropriate and is cool enough that they'll want to keep it or give it to someone special. But hey, no pressure on the Bible study leader, right? Here are just a few of the projects we've done together in the year we've been meeting. * This month's craft will be the adorable cross stit...
Read more