The Conversation
Dr. Mary C. McDonald
The drive to the meeting was inspirational. You know, it was one of those times when the weather was perfect, all the lights were green, someone let me in the line of traffic right before it merged to the left. Even the song on the radio inspired me to newness of thought as I weighed possible solutions to the problem being considered at the meeting. I wondered what insights the others attending would offer to the situation. By the time I arrived at the meeting, my thoughts were of nothing else but the potential solutions that always lie hidden in the core of any problem. Before the meeting started, I took my place at the table and looked down at the agenda. There was no discussion planned. It was just a report of what had been, what is, and what will continue to be. I saw that the boundaries had already been established “in the interest of time.” The possibilities for excellence that come from shared risk-taking had been relinquished in favor of the safety of mediocrity. The potential that lies in the heart of every conversation was lost to preconceived possibilities. The agenda did not unite our effort, but rather separated our thoughts in order to maintain the status quo. The agenda reminded me of the old saying “If you always do what you always did, then you’ll always get what you always got.” I picked up my pen and added an item to the agenda, “What do you think?”
Collective wisdom seems to be less and less important in society today. Yes, we have more ways to communicate than ever before, but communication has become one of the simultaneous things that you do as you multi-task, and instant messages have replaced your conversations. How do you get to really know each other, share your thoughts, and be truly connected if your conversations are only brief, superficial and one-dimensional? How do you build a community, a family, a life, with such short-term focus on relationships? If, in your own lives, on your agendas, on to-do lists, you do not provide time for an encounter with the thoughts, feelings, and ideas of others, then you miss the opportunity to experience the unique perspective each person brings to the whole of life. You will miss the conversation that flows into the rest of your life, and inspires you to find purpose and meaning. Short cut communication, at home, at work or in the community, only causes you to know less and assume more. You’ll never get to say, “Let’s talk about it…what do you think about…you just gave me a great idea…I understand.”
You’ll never convince me that Starbucks is successful because of the coffee. I believe that they set themselves apart from the competition, not because of the coffee they sell, but because they sell a lifestyle, they portray an image of good conversations happening around the tables. It’s a lifestyle of being with others. It is a lifestyle we all want. We want to be together. We want to sit down and talk to each other. We want interconnectedness and relationships. All great ideas started with a conversation. You don’t need coffee drinking as an excuse to do this. You don’t need agendas to plan your thoughts. You don’t need conference tables or dining room tables. You just need to take the time to have the conversation. You want your ideas heard. You want to hear the thoughts of others. Child or adult, you want to have a real conversation, a face-to-face, all-the-time-in the-world kind of conversation, because you’re worth it.
Jesus knew the power a conversation can have when He encountered two men walking on the road to Emmaus. “He asked them, what are you discussing together as you walk along?” (Luke 24:17) Then the three began a conversation. By the time they parted company with Jesus, the two friends “asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road, and opened the Scriptures to us?’” (Luke 24:32) When was the last time you had a conversation that left you ‘fired-up’, inspired you with a call to action, to a vision of what could be? When was the last time you had a conversation that left you with a feeling of connectedness? When was the last time you took the time to start one?
 © 2018 MCD Partners |