There is
risk of betrayal; there is risk that the relationship will fail. There is risk that your friend or beloved
will get sick and die. There is risk
that you will change, and that the relationship will change. There is risk that your beloved will fall in
love with someone else, and abandon you.
Despite
all these risks, we all hunger for love and for relationships. Sometimes we go into a relationship knowing
that it will fail, but judging it to be worth the risk. Those decisions are between us and our God.
Sometimes
relationships lift us higher, and bring us to where we longed to be, if only
for a short time. Sometimes those we
love change us forever, and even if the love between us doesn’t last, the good
things that love brought to us remain.
Even though relationships can break our hearts, they can also renew our souls and give us the strength to move forward.
Our
relationships often reflect our own weakness and our fear. If we do not believe in ourselves, and who we
are made to be, we will choose people to be in our lives who will prevent us
from becoming our best selves – because we don’t really believe in ourselves
and who we can be.
In the
end, our strongest relationship should be between us and God – and we need to
know ourselves best of all. When we know
ourselves well, and refuse to betray ourselves or lie to ourselves, we will
draw into our lives relationships that are more likely to help us on our
journey, rather than choosing those who reveal our weaknesses and prevent us
from becoming all we are meant to be.
