It's all about relationships

Last night, I had a very contentious and emotional meeting with a group in my ministry. I won't share all of the details because that's really irrelevant, but basically, I had not spent the time building relationships as I should, and did not walk with humility and expected results that were impossible when those two things occur. In my reflection last night and this morning, I am reminded about how much life is about relationships. God did not create us to be alone.

But here's the challenge. Relationships are messy. We don't always get our way. We have to compromise. Relationships, like all things in life, take work. For much of my life, I wanted relationships so desperately that I tried to put too much work into them, and pushed people away. The result? I didn't have many relationships. Even now, looking at many relationships, outside of my family, most of the relationships I have are very surface level, and not deep and filling relationships. I don't know why this is the case, but I know that is something that I am missing in my life. I've had people come and go in my life that I have grown in deep relationships with, but the challenge is that they've come and gone.

Relationships, even on a surface level, can be good. When we spend just a little bit of time investing in those relationships, good things can happen. That's what I left my meeting last night with. The understanding that I will be investing time into this group, and they will invest time in me. No, the meeting last night doesn't make everything perfect, but it's a start in the right direction. Time and God's leadership will determine the course in the future.