Questions > Answers

Have you ever been behind that person in a fast food drive-thru taking forever? I hear stories of this often, and yet, I’ve never had this experience firsthand. Today, it finally clicked. I am that person! I get it honestly from my mother. I enjoy hearing the life stories of just about every person I meet. Including the cashier at the fast food window.

Questions with a genuine interest are all it takes to have meaningful conversations and depth isn’t always quantified through time. Today I asked a simple question at a drive-thru window and it revealed some uncertainty the person faced approaching 2020. I was able to relate, and we mutually encouraged one another. It was a quick conversation, two honks max, but it made a difference to me. I hope the feeling was reciprocal.

By the last week of December, I usually have my yearly goals printed out, framed, and hung right beside my porcelain throne. It keeps the temptation at bay come February to sweep them under the proverbial rug. Zig Ziglar once said, if you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time. I don’t like boxing with the wind; I want to know what I’m trying to hit. Writing out goals and placing them in a position to be seen at least once a day is about 75% of seeing them through.

I’m still working on goals for 2020, but a major point of emphasis will be asking more questions. Questions are far greater than answers. I want to ask more questions to my wife and kids. I want to ask more questions to those I work with and serve. I want to ask more questions to those with whom I disagree.

We live in a culture so obsessed with being right that we’ve forgotten the far greater value of asking a question. I too must confess, in recent history, a greater concern with being right than seeking understanding through a question. Yes, I’m a man of deep convictions, but I discovered something that almost seems ironic: the greater a person’s convictions the greater the willingness to seek out the perspectives in others. It is shallow conviction people try to protect like a junkyard dog.

I’m still on the road to recovery from being the answer guy, but I have a really good role model helping me along the way. His name is Jesus. Of the 307 questions Jesus was asked in the gospels, only a handful of times did he give a direct answer. It wasn’t that Jesus was shallow in his convictions, he just didn’t make being right his top priority. He valued the person, met them where they were, and graced them toward God’s truth. He gave people the opportunity to taste and see the goodness of God’s truth. It’s beauty, not a battering ram.

I’m looking forward to lots of great dialogue in 2020 and all the learning to be had! Wisdom is discovered in asking the question not in having all the answers.