Today’s chapter in our daily reading may be the most important one to date, although I have certainly enjoyed this journey as have many of you that have shared. The topic is relationships. Mount Everest is a tall place – over 29000 feet – and high enough that it won’t sustain life at the top for long. Many die trying to achieve the quest of reaching the summit, and often without fantastic teamwork, If someone has a problem as they approach the summit, those on the team have to make a very tough decision. Either turn back to take their teammate down to safety, or if they leave them there while they continue to the top they almost always die. That is too often how we deal with relationships. Things WILL be difficult in any relationship. Why? Because every relationship is made up of at least two people and neither of them are perfect. The one exception is our relationship with God but even there, we are in it and certainly not perfect so even when God is, our relationship struggles because of our humanity. The book asks us to do a very important exercise and I want to encourage you to evaluate every relationship you are in this way. Are your marriage, family, friendships, work life, church life relationships:
1. Excellent (never been better)
2. OK (we get along but there is some tension)
3. Pretty rough (we’re in conflict and floundering)
4. Terrible (we’re not going to make it)
Don’t just do it for the good relationships – be honest and rate them all. How are you doing in this area of life. Why does it matter? Because God created us for relationship first of all and that is how we impact people secondly. If we fail at relationships we will struggle to bear fruit for the Father. It matters a lot.
The chapter calls out the three areas where most problems occur. We need to really consider which of these, if not all of them, are causing breakdowns in our relationships:
1. Miscommunication
2. “Me first” attitude
3. Mistakes
Before you run off and say – those are my problems – let me assure you that I know better. They are problems for all of us. We all fail to communicate clearly and make many assumptions every day that people in our lives will just figure it out. We all are selfish and occasionally (if not regularly) get into a self centered attitude, and I know for certainty that if you breath and are alive you make some mistakes. It is the reality of life. None of us are perfect. So the real question is – what do we do with the imperfect people in a relationship. God’s plan is pretty simple – we ask forgiveness when we screw up and we exercise grace when someone else does. These things will destroy every relationship in our lives if we don’t learn to be like Jesus and live that way. I have to be willing to admit I am a failure and need forgiveness – I have to ask for it. I have to also accept that no one is perfect and extend grace for their shortcomings. Are you willing to live that way? If so, God will bless your relationships deeply. If not, life will be one lonely place to live………
Posted by asorensen 
