"Living in Relationship" I have said it and heard it so often in the last couple years. I have come to believe it means different things for different people. For our family it means being honest and open with each other, family and friends. You know, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Being there no matter what. Talking through the hard stuff and never backing off. Laughing through the fun stuff, being together. I have friends that for me may as well be family. Thank-you to Cindy and Jill. Cindy for always being you and being okay with it, I can be confident with me and who I am in Christ in public because of watching you. Thank-you Jill for teaching me that I can hurt with my friends even when they hurt more. That it's okay to be needy and to be needed and we can do it at the same time. Without you guys I would be a very different person. Relationship has to be two-sided, listening and talking. Giving and taking. I can't stand taking without being allowed to give. I just ran into an old friend in a grocery store, we had her son in youth group a few years back, she said to me that she used to go to church but it got weird when they were trying to help her. All of a sudden she wasn't allowed to give back, we should be able to receive help and invite the helper over for dinner, or to help with a project or whatever it is. In Acts they had all things in common. It probably made for deeper and more open relationships with each other. No class, no poor, no male or female, no pastor or lay person....we are all just God's children gifted with what the Spirit has given us.
How does this relate with us and God our Father. If relationship is a two way street than why do we spend so much time asking God for stuff, talking and talking and talking and not listening. I heard a man pray over the weekend. He went on and on.....I was thinking, do I do that. I can't stand it when someone just talks and talks to me and doesn't stop to hear me. I may have a comment, a thought, a word of encouragement. I might even have a joke. I think that God has so much to say to us. I am studying Deborah, Barak, and Jael right now. What would have happened if Deborah would have just only asked God for deliverance and never listened to how God wanted it done and then went out on her own to do it? Two words "Epic Fail".
Like Deborah we all have a job to do. God is still alive. He is still working. And he is still speaking. If praying is simply talking to God, are we allowing him time to speak?
