relationships

today i went for a walk in a park here in stillwater, beautiful morning! then i saw this squirrel and it drew my attention, in a somewhat similiar fashion to the dog Doug from the movie "Up!". he's got it all. i was stepping on acorns the entire walk and i saw at least 5 other squirrels around during the remainder of the morning. how legit is that? he's got everything he needs, food for the entire winter and his boys to hang with. what if he didn't have all his friends there with him?

when i decided to stay in stillwater for another year after graduation, i wasn't sure how it'd go but it's been realllly great. i'm practically getting to see what i could do with my life, learning and growing and i'm having so much fun doing it. my favorite thing i've been thinking about is all the great relationships that are in my life. for the last week or two, i've been completely infatuated with this idea of relationships and what goes on there and i want to share my findings with you.

we've got all kinds of these relationships. work friends, college friends, high school friends, classmates, best friends, people we wave to, gf's/bf's, roommates, family, and on and on but why? what purpose do all of these relationships serve? what do we like about these things? here's what i think, relationships are in my terms:

-stretching. it's human nature and tendency (with the exception of moms) to simply stare at ourselves and what we want and need and to have no concern at all for others. what's the problem with that? if we're all walking around staring into mirrors, relationally there will be casualties. ever talk to one of those people who asks you the best questions about your life? they leave and you just want them to come back right? it's so hard to put others needs and wants ahead of our own, but when you care about them, mannn that's love.

-lifegiving. early in college i really struggled because i didn't have close relationships. there were great people around me that cared about me but it took being intentional to really feel what that's all about. there's something to say for getting past the "how was class?/how was your weekend?" type stuff. life is so much sweeter when people really know how you're doing and who you really are. having something in our lives that we're ashamed of is such a terrible feeling. 1john 1 says "if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.." walking in the light looks like us being exposed for who we really are before one another and then we can experience true fellowship with one another. when someone loves us regardless of our past actions, it's so freeing.

my favorite part of this topic is my relationship with God. it's so easy to default to thinking we justify ourselves before Him. how many times have we all thought, either openly or subconsciously, ya know, i went to church/bible study/had my quiet times this week, God's totally cool with me now. or maybe, we're seeing victory over sin in our life. ex: the way we talk looks prettier, i wasn't hatin on anybody too much this week, etc. and we feel like we're cool with God for a while. where's that in the bible? where did God say,"you go to church, don't drink and we'll be cool." He didn't. in ephesians 2:8,9, he says eternal life is a gift, not something we earn. the truth about the message of Christ is the greatest thing i know and i hope you can just let that truth resonate in your heart for a while friend. and try not to smile after thinking about it.

have a great weekend!
-mandy candy