Relationships Take Time

Growing friendship is like growing crop.

TO BEGIN WITH

Because God is love, the most important lesson He wants you to learn is how to love. It is not an easy task, though, as it runs counterintuitive to our self-centered nature.

Love should be your top priority, primary objective, and greatest ambition. It’s not enough to say, “one of the things I want is to be loving.” Relationships must have priority in your life above everything else. Why?

Because life without love is really worthless. Really.

Often we talk about finding time for our children, or making time for our spouses. It’s as if relationships are just part of our to-do list. But God says relationships are what life is all about.

RELATIONSHIPS TAKE TIME

One hundred years ago, society was influenced greatly by the farm culture. Lifestyle was slower. There was a season for planting, a season for growing, and a season for harvesting. There was a natural timetable for living that couldn’t be rushed.

Today, we live in a society where things can’t happen fast enough. Everything is instant – from oatmeal to news. Everything is fast – from food to writing letters. We even get frustrated when it takes a few milliseconds for our cell phones to receive our prepaid load. Our society is now characterized by “short-time”, “drive-thru”, and “one-touch”. We get impatient with anything that takes time.

There is one aspect of life that cannot be rushed – building a meaningful relationship with another person. You can make an acquaintance on the spot, but a friendship can’t happen instantly. It doesn’t develop overnight. It takes time.

Growing friendship is like growing crop. There is a season of planting – time spent in finding common interests. This initial contact is followed by a season of growing – when the friendship is nurtured as you begin to appreciate each other’s differences, discovered only by spending time together. As the relationship matures, you begin a lifelong season of harvest – when friendship proves to be a source of strength and encouragement.

Do you want meaningful relationships? Do you desire relationships based on trust and loyalty? You can have this kind of friendship, but it will take time. Your time.

Raymund's Random Thoughts

Friendship is not a substitute for loving, it is amplification.

There is no friend so noble as some sunlight let in on a room long darkened.

Plant something in a friend's garden. Even if it's only a new idea.

Poem of the Week

PHANTOM FRIENDS 

by Emon

What a time this weekend
to just observe, to call the sea companion
and let imaginary friendships tumble, spin
as the heart goes spinning too.

Friends needn’t be real in body
if they are comrades in our minds.
A friend can be a coconut tree
and never know it,
          or any special tree
within this self same beach.

(January 2009)

AND FINALLY

Relationships, not achievements or acquisition of things, are what matters most in life. May we not learn this the hard way by having regrets during the final moments of our earthly lives. 

Wisdom is learning the truth sooner than later. 

Thanks for stopping by - see you next week.