Day 16: What Matters Most
As I mentioned a few times now in this blog, relationships are one area that I have neglected, often to the point of letting them fade away. Sometimes I have even neglected budding relationships causing them to never develop. This chapter reinforced what I already knew....I need to fix this!
I have always been very aware of how I treated others....even strangers that I didn't know in the store, or driving down the street. I just always assumed that this was part of some kind, caring nature of mine that made me a nice person. I think that it might be possible that I was just doing what God intended me to do, and didn't know it...I was spreading my love.
The time thing is my biggest challenge and something that I will have to really look at. I need to think about how much time I have been willing to invest into relationships, especially those relationships with fellow believers.
The book mentioned that "relationships, not achievements or the acquisitions of things, are what matters most in life." When I went home to Kansas to visit family in October, I went to a new library expansion in the city where I grew up to visit a new art gallery they had built. They had an extensive photo exhibit there of a man and his daughter. They were from rural Kansas and the father had chosen voluntary poverty so that he could spend every possible moment of time with his daughter. For him, being at home constantly with his child, and getting to share every moment of his time with her was more important than anything. Their life reflected this in the pictures...poverty was indeed their lot in life. But if you looked closely at their faces in the pictures you could see something else...love.
I hope to gain a better grasp of love as I grow closer to God. I want to be able to give of myself and of my time so that I can show those around me that I love them, and that they are important to me as well.
Point to Ponder: Life is all about love.
Verse to Remember: "The entire law is summed up in a simple command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Galatians 5:14 (NIV)
Question to Consider: Honestly, are relationships my first priority? How can I ensure that they are?
As I have said before...no, they are not. But I recognize that, and have been making it more of a priority over the last month or two...even before I began this bible study. I want to be able to spend time with someone and walk away remember the details of their life...who they are...what they are interested in. That means focusing less on myself and more on them. I need to give myself and my time and attention to them rather than just expecting them to give themselves to me.
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