RELATIONSHIP

Today I was asked a very thought provoking question: “What does relationship look like to me”

I have spent a good portion of today pondering that question and here are a few things that I’ve come up with.  By no means is this an all inclusive list but it’s a start.  Feel free to add comments as to other areas that define relationship to you…

In a relationship…

… We are connected in spirit and by the Spirit. 

… We pray for each other. 

... We can speak into each other’s lives and call each other to come higher to the place where God designed us to live. 

… We view the words and actions of each other through the lens of unconditional love.

… We cherish the moments, no matter how few, that we have to spend together.

… We encourage each other.

… We are genuine and sincere.   

… We believe the best about each other.

… We are honest about where we are.

… We are free to be who we were created to be.

Just when I wonder if I am making progress...

This blog is completely unplanned.  Really. I just sat down and felt the need to write about my experience this morning.  Have you ever felt like a slave? You know - the I "have" to do this, don't have an option, life is all drudgery and no happiness kind of feeling?  I was asked the question, "Do you feel like a slave" today.  It made me laugh out loud.  I most certainly did not feel like a slave - in fact, I felt privileged instead. 

As I pondered the interaction a bit later, (yes, I ponder almost everything just for the simple joy that re-bubbles in my heart), I realized that the reason I didn't feel like a slave was because I "just don't think that way".  WOW! What a realization!  That is huge for me because there was a time in my life, not so long ago, that I did think that way. 

Now the principle that feelings are based on thoughts is not new to me.  God has been teaching me that for years.  What is new to me is the fact that I don't think that way anymore.  God has so completely changed who I am in that area that my thoughts have changed and I hadn't even stopped to realize it.  I had taken it for granted. 

Does that mean my mind is totally renewed? I wish I could say that it was so. Just yesterday I was feeling like I was struggling to keep my head above water.  What is does mean is that yes, God is still working in my life and yes, I am making progress.  What a journey this is!

Passion and focus

I am not one to sit and read the newspaper – let alone the sports section – but, the other day I was waiting to start work and my eyes fell on an article in the sports section.   It was an article about Taylor Pattillo and her plans for being on a college softball team.  There was a quote from her that really got my attention.  Speaking of her opportunity to work with the coach of the college team, she said, “Just knowing I’ll be in her presence and having her be able to lead me and guide me into the next chapter in my life is huge.”  Wow.  What a statement.  It is filled with passion and focus, not to mention a desire to allow someone to shape her life and lead her into what she believes is her future. 

As I have been pondering her statement the past few days, I can’t help being amazed at the focus of one who is relatively young combined with the desire to be mentored by one considered to be great in her eyes. 

What if we all lived with that kind of focus in our relationship with Jesus?  “Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? To be out of your sight?” (Ps. 139:7 the Message).   Just living with the knowledge that we are indeed in His presence - at all times– what a shift in focus that brings.  

Do we live our lives with the focus being what can I learn from Him today that will make me into who am to become?  Who better to have lead and guide us that the One who knew us before we even existed?   What a journey that takes us on!

Late Night Pondering

What a journey we are on.  Having just returned from Kenya about 2 weeks ago, I am attempting to adjust to life in a completely different world.  I ponder the sights I saw, the lives I was privileged to touch and the voices I heard and one thing continues to play over and over in my mind – it’s all about love. 

Love.  It’s not nearly as complicated as we would like to sometimes think.  It’s not an idea – it’s an action.  Love IS patient.  Love IS kind.  Jesus said that they (the world) would know we are Christians by our love.   This leads me to this question: What does love look like? It looks like meeting the need of the one in front of you. 

Love looks like a cup of hot porridge to a street boy who may not get anything else to eat or drink that day.  Love looks like holding a Muslim woman’s baby on a place while she helps her toddler in the bathroom.  Love looks like hugging someone with AIDS.  Love looks like giving a loaf of bread to a blind grandmother. 

So what does that have to do with me here in America?  I haven’t run into many of those situations since my return.  But I have seen someone who is feeling as though they can’t go on another day.  I have seen someone who feels as though no one cares.  I have seen someone who just wants someone, anyone to listen to what they have to say. 

While the issues may be different, the answer is still the same.  The answer is Jesus – He IS LOVE.  So, as I sit here and ponder my purpose for being here in America, I find that it is absolutely no different than my purpose for traveling half way around the world.  My purpose is to love the one in front of me.  What if we all went through our day with one purpose - To love the one in front of us? What a journey that would be.  What a journey that would be indeed.