Anticipation

First of all, I want to say "thanks" to the Lord for finally cooling things off around here! 86 is so much better than having a heat index in the 100's. I am very appreciative of the cooler weather, though I wouldn't go so far as 1 weather person did and call it a "cold front", that is a bit of hyperbole!!!

I'm excited because one of my best friends is going to be here VERY soon (tomorrow) for a few days and I haven't seen her in what seems like YEARS (we did lunch over Christmas, but that wasn't nearly enough time)!!!

It is times like this, when I am anticipating something that I am reminded of how God made us for relationships. Relationships of all kinds. Of course the most important relationship we can have is with HIM, but God made us for more than that. God made us for each other.

Back in the Garden of Eden, God created everything and it was good. Then God made man, and though Adam (the 1st man) was there with the plants, animals and holy GOD, it wasn't good yet. God knew that something was missing. God then created Eve, a woman and another human. Once Eve was created, then God deemed it good.

Interesting to note that creation wasn't finished till there were 2 humans. God knew that we needed each other, Adam and Eve talked and walked with GOD in the garden, and as awesome as that was, it was not enough. Because God created us for relationships. If God had designed man differently, than Adam wouldn't have needed Eve, but we are created in the image of God, and God is relational, therefore we are relational.

We need our friends and family. It is important that we spend time with other people. Spend the time relaxing, comforting, teaching, encouraging, loving, laughing, and just being together. We need to spend the time helping each other meet and accept Christ and grow in relationship with Him. He should be the most important relationship we have, and out of our love for Him should flow a love for all others as well.

As many of you may know one of my pet peeves is bad/stupid drivers and my current home has LOTS of them... so as I've been trying to grow and mature in Christ, I am trying to learn to not let other drivers annoy and frustrate me so much. Now, in lieu of getting mad and cussing, which I've done once or twice...or probably more! I now I pray for them, generally something like this "Lord please love and protect the other drivers, because I'm having a hard time right now, and work on my attitude as well."

I should love those other drivers, most of whom I will probably never meet, because Christ loves them as much as HE loves you and me.

There are many different forms of relationships: there is the marriage or spousal relationship, which is unique, special and exciting. It is intimate and should last from the wedding day till death. There is the parent/child relationship and is one of love. We love our children more than any other children simply because they are ours, made out of love, incubated (for lack of a better term) out of love, and raised (hopefully) in love. This love lasts from conception (or should) till death. Your child will always be your child, even when they are 55 years old and have children and grandchildren of their own.

Then there are friends, and friends come in all types. We have our best or closest friends. These people are there for life. We tell them things we don't tell others, we trust them with our lives. We may not see them as often and we would like, but when we do it is like no time has past. These friends are a type of family. They should be cherished, because they are treasures.

Then we have our everyday friends. These are people we see often and do things with. They could be our college friends, co-workers, church members, or people we met at Krogers and really like. We feel comfortable around them, and have fun with them, but there is a part of us that we don't share with them. They are good people that we enjoy being with, but they are not part of "inner circle" and these people come and go. If we move, we lose touch. Yeah, we may send Christmas cards back and forth, and talk on the phone once in a blue moon, but we don't feel the need to contact them when we get a raise in our new town, or something.

Then, we have acquaintances. These are people that where we know their names, we greet them in the store, at church at a concert. We may have a class or two with them, but we don't put them on our Christmas card list, we don't know the names of their children, or much about them really, but we recognize them.

Then there are the faces we come across- the teller at the bank, the cashier at Target, the pizza delivery girl, the drivers we past. Faces, we may say hello, and hopefully we are polite, but aside from a brief encounter we don't know them.

Relationships. They are start with Christ and trickle down. The types of relationships goes to show how important the idea is to Christ and why He knew that creation wasn't finished, it wasn't complete until Adam had Eve. Christ yearns for us to make Him number 1. He won't accept 2nd place. We are number to HIM, so why should we relegate HIM to less than the best!?! We need others for our lives to be as they were created to be, but before we pursue other relationships we need to secure our relationship with the Savior. It starts with Him, it did in the Garden, and it ends with Him.

It doesn't matter what relationships we had here on earth, if we die without having HIM as our savior, that is it, we condemned ourselves. As I anticipate seeing one of my best friends, I am also using the time to spend it with other friends, and to let Jesus know just how much I love HIM. He is so amazing, I can talk to HIM about anything, everything and nothing, because HE knows it all anyway, it sometimes I just need to talk (shocker I know!!!). So, don't look at me like I'm weird, I'm not talking to myself, but to my Savior!!!

Happy Friday the 13th. I think maybe I will go find a ladder to walk under, while I follow a black cat... Or maybe I will just go jogging!!!

IN CHRIST,
ME