Daily Devotion

I was always a curious child, both in the way meaning “asking questions” and in the way meaning “odd.” I seem to have passed that on to my children who are always up for a challenge, always asking questions about the world that I have no good answer for. And I love it. I live for curiosity because it means we’re interested in what’s beyond what we can see. Curiosity is a sign that we are not stuck, that we know there’s something else possible.

Curiosity is one of our spiritual practices at the Edge House, like prayer. Humans frequently jump to judgment and offense when we hear a story or opinion we don’t understand or that is outside our experience—it’s just part of who we are. Instead, I encourage students to say, “Tell me more.” Once we were on campus with the Red Couch and I had a well-meaning young man break out his bible to explain to me how the book of Daniel predicted with absolute accuracy the end of the world in 2017. I responded, “I’m afraid I don’t agree that’s what Daniel is saying, but it doesn’t matter whether we agree. You find this compelling enough to try to convince me. Let’s say you’re right: what difference does it make that this prophecy is true? How does it make you live your life differently? Help me understand.” I didn’t ask this as a gotcha question (mostly), but truly because I was curious. Could we have a real conversation about what was important to him and what his next steps might be? In this case, no. He walked away looking puzzled. But so many times, I and my students have asked “tell me more” with curiosity and love and have had remarkable conversations.

What are you curious about right now? Whose story could you learn more about, simply to know it? Who do you struggle with—personally or culturally—and what would it be like to be curious about them from a place of love rather than struggle?
 

1 comments on article "Daily Devotion"

Chris Nagle

I love this, Pastor Alice! In today's incredibly divisive society, we need more of the approach you laid out when you had the conversation with the the young man... taking a step back to better understand versus the knee-jerk, emotional reaction. This is certainly a reminder for me to take this path, whether it's politics, religion, or other.

9/3/2020 9:14 AM

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