A bit ago I posted about a podcast where I heard Anne Lamott speaking during an interview. Near the end of the interview, she's talking about how much she enjoys listening to a particular extreme conservative (Anne is very, very liberal), not because she agrees with much of what He says, but because she feels he has good insights and it keeps her mind in a good place while navigating the stress of traffic in her car. She mentions a saying from her AA group, "Take what you like and leave the rest."
She also says, "I can listen to anyone who really, really loves Jesus and loves the Bible."
Then, her final insight is to describe her relationship with the person interviewing her (who appreciates her very much, but has very different opinions about life in many areas) as a set of Olympic circles. Circles represent people, and the places where we overlap can be many, if not greater, than where we don't. I think the Olympic circles are a beautiful picture of the unity that Jesus prayed for His disciples to experience. Our differences don't have to dissolve when we love each other, but maybe love helps us discover how many places our lives really do overlap?
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