Relationship and Risk

In every relationship there is risk. 

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.