My husband and I enjoy going on a walk most mornings after the kids have gone to school, before both of us start our workday. I enjoy the time we have to talk and just be outdoors together.

Yesterday morning as we returned, I received a text message that made me chuckle a little. In essence, our dear friend expressed how wonderful it is to see us walk together because we are so in sync, swinging our arms in rhythm as we walk.

My first thought was, “In sync?! Oh if only you knew!” I thought of just one of the ways we haven’t seen eye to eye. Then I thought about what she was seeing – the outward expression of the real effort we made each day to walk in sync. It doesn’t just happen.

You see, we like to hold hands while we walk. However, this causes a bit of an awkward gait if you attempt to walk at a good clip and your legs and arms are not moving in the right cadence. Our inside legs must come forward at the same time – mirror image movements. This allows us to swing our clasped hands in unison. Otherwise our arms are stuck in a forced stable position, which feels odd when the other arm swings in time to the steps.

As I thought more about the observation shared by our friend, I remembered the many times we have had to readjust as we have rounded corners or walked on or off curbs. Even sometimes when my shorter legs don’t keep up with his longer strides.

It has been comical in moments when both of us realize we are off and try to make adjustments at the same time, only succeeding in keeping the off-timed walk instead of fixing it. We have learned to try and anticipate changes, or we take turns making the adjustments.

After my amusement regarding the text, I was struck with the thought of how much that is like our interactions with those around us. What would happen if we tried to walk a little more in sync with each other?

It is no secret that the world is becoming more contentious. How can we more peacefully walk with one another throughout the journey of life? Perhaps we can be more willing to try to walk in sync. That doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything. My steps don’t have to exactly match yours. But we can navigate around the corners and ups and downs as we respect each other’s steps. Look out for each other. Our differences can even help us get farther as we are linked together. There will be times we get out of sync, maybe even let go as we navigate around an obstacle in our path. But we can come together again. It is worth the effort.