Hope For Today "Relationship"

Most of us long to live in such a way that we be a positive influence wherever we go and leave people and circumstances better than we found them.  We want our lives to count for good.  We want others to be blessed by God and to experience the fullness that God has always intended for them.

Did you know that we are helped in our weakness, given words to our prayers when we don’t even know what to say or ask, and promised that whether we get it right or not, whether things go as they should in our circumstances or not, God will work it all together for good – all of it.

In every age there have been challenges to our sense of community. These days the great challenge seems to be devices and the isolation that was so increased during long months of pandemic restrictions and seems to have lingered these years later. We need each other.  We were made for each other.  It’s only with others that our daily living and service truly finds completeness. 

There’s a deep longing for intimacy in human hearts - that desire for a close, familiar, protective, loving relationship between two persons. How can we best find and nurture that?

Selfishness - self centeredness - as many have said before us, "This, we think, is the root of our troubles." Is it? How do we grow above and beyond it?

How many of us got ourselves into trouble by our lack of wisdom and understanding of life and where it would lead us if we pursued a rebellious course? We may have been hurting from unmet needs or events that happened in our past and instead of seeking help and healing we chose a defiant path of doing things our own way. Now we are attempting to turn our lives around from the chaos that resulted from such choices. God’s Word has good advice for us in that attempt today:

We have all made promises to family members and friends which we didn’t manage to keep.  Fortunately, God has continued to pursue us with His love, without interruption, every day of our lives and here we are today in response to that love. His promise to offer us His love never changes regardless of our wanderings.

Even though we may know about these stages and even be able to identify where we are today, it still remains difficult for us to deal with the grief and loss we are experiencing.  Thank God He is with us through every stage of life and He understands our grief.  He has experienced it all Himself.

Relationships – so precious and also so challenging. There are always two partners in every relationship and each has a part to play in what goes well and when things go wrong.  To maintain a good relationship or to build back better after a breakdown it takes willingness and hard work from both partners.

Many people have never been disciplined in the art of following through on the commitments they make. They start something and then get tired when it takes more effort than they are willing to give.  Thankfully, God has operated with us on a very different basis.

We could all do with a few doses of love and mercy given to us – not because we necessarily deserve it or have done anything to earn it – but simply because the person – in this case, God, wants us to have something good and lovely and life giving. And then, how are we approaching others with grace and peace – those we know well, those who we hardly know; or even those people that bring out the worst in us? Are we doing all we can, in God’s power to offer them love and mercy simply because we want them to have something good today?

What divides us? What happened to being curious together rather than suspecting anyone who sees an issue differently from us; or seeking to solve problems together rather than attacking each other; helping each other instead of competing with one another? Where has that sense of community, seeking the common good, and sticking together through hard times gone? What does Jesus have to say about it all?