28.10.08

relationships 101

About a week ago at connect group an individual shared with us about a relationship he has with someone from our church. He said it’s unlike any other relationship he has because neither of them intend to get anything out of their friendship. Someone else in the group stated that he on the other hand doesn’t have any relationships like this other individual, rather all of his relationships seem to have an agenda, whether it’s his agenda or someone else’s.

As this conversation continued it really got me thinking, how many friendships do we create for the sake of simply “being” and how often to we look at those relationships as a waste of time?

I’ve been told that there are three kinds of relationships we build
1. we expect someone to invest into us (we get something out of it)
2. someone expects us to invest into them (they get something out it)
3. neither of us get “anything” out of it necessarily, we just get to “be”

I truly believe we as humans have been created with a need to be in relationship. Unfortunately, life experiences will often determine how we look at those relationships, and which ones we choose to spend the most time working on, when in fact they’re all so important in ones development.

As we often state at The Family Room, it’s time to bring things back to the kitchen table, to place value on all relationships. Maybe it’s time to take a closer look at those you in your life that you have a relationship with, determine which relationships maybe need a bit more work then others. Are you missing out on “being”? Perhaps you spend all of your time investing into others and are being invested in yourself. Or maybe you’re quite selfish in your relationships and only think about what you can receive, rather then what you can give.

My challenge to you would be to think about your relationships and try to balance all three forms of relationships in your life. This could potentially mean dropping a few, and making some new ones.

Happy relationship building…

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