““Love is a patient effort by persons who dedicate themselves to listening and drawing closer to others.””
Pope Francis
Last week, I had a difficult conversation. In the immediate aftermath, I wanted to discredit the other person’s perspective. I wanted to litigate all the holes in their narrative – after all, I knew I was right. As I prayed about my frustration, I realized the bigger gap was not in what was true and false about the other person’s perspective. The bigger gap was in how I was responding and how I wanted to respond as well as how I am called to respond. I wasn’t “drawing closer” to others. I wasn’t listening for the opportunity for self growth. I wasn’t 100% right. Sometimes, the trick about being right is that you can lose the chance to be better and help someone else be better... and that’s no treat.
