The homework is simple: Ask 10 Christian friends, whose opinion you respect -
"What it is like to be in a relationship with me?"
The second part of the homework is this no matter what they say - I can not get angry or upset about it. The information as they present it will be neutral to my life. What I do with that information will be the positive or the negative.
Some of the people I am asking I have known a long time, some not so long, some are my friends, some I work with (ie home school stuff) some are my family. Some, I am not really sure I want to know their answer. I know that there will be things people say that will encourage me, that will surprise me, and even that might hurt my pride.
I can not stress enough how much I really did not want to ask!!!
It would be much easier to just say, 'Everything is fine, of course!' But that is like using your credit card and never opening the statement but telling yourself, "Everything is fine, of course!" Saying it doesn't make it true!
We would look at the person who never opens their credit card statements as a complete fool, immature, incapable of being a responsible person. But in light of eternity, how important is it that you open your credit card statements vs. say, opening your relationship statements? Is Jesus in heaven running a credit check? Is he running a relationship check? Ouch!
It takes a lot to ask this question. Why is it so important? A friend of ours used to say 'We see ourselves in light of our intentions. We see others in light of their actions.' How true this is, and furthermore, others see us in light of our actions. Our perception of ourselves can be very different than the perception that other have of us.
Now I am certainly not saying that we should throw ourselves on the alter of perceptions, worship the polls of public opinion and mold ourselves into a more pleasing likeness of who knows what to make the people in our lives happy. BUT if I can ask people whose opinion I highly respect, and seek guidance from other believers, then I am not molding myself into some worldly creation - but rather using their wisdom and insight to mold myself into a closer representation of Christ, while working on improving something that Christ highly values, relationships =)
Christ doesn't just value His relationship with me, but also my relationships with others. Over and over again Christ tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to encourage other believes to good works. The premise of this study is Climate. Every relationship, every interaction with others, has a climate, and is that climate a warm sunny blessing, or a dark dreary curse? I desire that my life be a blessing to those around me, so I had better open up those relationship statements do the relationship checks that keep me, and everyone around me, healthy and happy.
Thank you for helping me with my homework =)
1 comment:
Update - so far I have three responses =) One from my hubby, one from a very close friend, and one from a homeschool friend. I have heard some things that were very encouraging, some things that were a little suprising, and some that I had no idea about. So far, so good. I can honestly say I am glad that I asked =)
Post a Comment