Friendships

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are excessive. (Proverbs 27:6 NET)

I like to think of the relationships in my life like the parts of a tree. There are different parts of a tree; the leaves, the branches and the roots. Now "leaves" friends are really more like aquaintances. They are easy to identify because they are there when things are going good, but the second they even seem to be going bad, they are gone. But you can't get mad at them because that their role in your life. Then there are the "branches." These relationships can sometimes fool you because they may appear to hang around when things get bad, but you put a little pressure on them, then they are gone.  You have to be careful with branches because you may think you can really trust them only to find out you can't. Then there are the roots. These are the relationships that no matter what happens they are there, by your side, helping you out when things are bad, counseling you, pointing your errors and inconsistencies out to you, but they will never leave you. These are the ones you want to keep in your life. You may have many leaves, and several branches, but you only need a few roots in your life. Its the roots that you want to pour your life into, its the roots that you can trust, its the roots that will give you wise counsel and although they may hurt you at times (and it will happen), they will always be there.

Take Away: identify the root relationships in your life, these are the people you need in your life, these are the ones God talks about in Proverbs 27:6...faithful are the wounds of a friend!

Let People Go

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (1 Corinthians 13:4-5 NIV)

Relationships, whether a romantic, friend or business relationship, may experience a time when that person in the relationship wants to go, for whatever reason. We may not understand why and we may not agree. We may think that if they leave, they will get hurt, OR if they leave it will be the end of the world for us, and therefore we try holding on to them and keep them from leaving. The problem with doing this is that the minute you try to keep them from leaving, you have taken away their right to choose whats best for them and you dishonor them. In essence, with you trying to hold on to them, you have become self-seeking. God is telling us in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 that if we truly love someone, we will NOT dishonor them and we wont be self seeking. If someone wants to walk out of your life, then let them go. If you try holding on to them, strife, discord, anger, etc will start developing and you will eventually lose them anyway...and on bad terms. If you let them go, then you can rest assured that they left on good terms. And if you think "but Kent, I can't, you don't know what that will do to me, you don't know how lonely I will be, I can't live without that person."  True, I may not know how the absence of that person will affect you, but God does. He knows how you will hurt, He knows how lonely you will be, but through all of that, He will comfort you, and He will bring the right people around you that you need.

Take Away: if someone wants to walk out of your life, let them go...then trust that God will bring the people that you need in your life into your life.