I spend a lot of time creating relationships. In fact, it might be my most time consuming endeavor.
I take my daughters to the park and sit in the grass with them. We play with little dolls and horses and make houses with sticks. I chase them and look at their artistic masterpieces with wood and blades of grass. We are creating relationship.
We hire a babysitter and check the movie times so that my husband and I can go out on a date. We try to recreate life before kids for a couple short hours but we ending up talking mostly about the kids anyway. Relationship.
Invite friends over for game night, let people sleep in our home, walk into a church building on a Sunday morning without knowing a soul. Why do we do all of these things? To create relationship.
My to do list looks something like this:
Most of my items have something to do with people and maintaining or progressing relationships. It’s all about people!! {minus the school uniform and clean playroom references}
I write and check Twitter and interact on blogs; in it’s own odd way this is creating relationships too.
I offer to watch a friend’s baby for the evening so she and her husband can have a night out. This is creating relationship.
Why do we make this our full time job? Why do I make this my full time job?
I think we were all created to be in forever relationship with one another but that because of sin, we’ve been broken. Once upon a time.
And then as a result, our initial desires and inclinations for relationship have been twisted and smashed. Jesus came both to reconcile us to Himself and to reconcile us to each other. He came to put us all back together again.
Broken things fixed.
Broken people make whole.
Broken relationships healed.
So when I engage in creating relationship, especially in broken places, it’s like I’m helping in Jesus’ reconciliation process. Making new friends. Keeping old ones. Playing with and engaging my girls — it’s all a part of God’s plan to re-establish us to each other.
And it’s so much better than living life alone.
Yes! The very first ministry of Jesus’ was reconciliation, it needs to be ours too. I am learning that.
And we so need to get together, sister friend! When the back to school dust settles a bit, yes?
alright! i’m in!!
okay…I came back to read some of the comments…so how do you (we, us women) do it? How do we strengthen our marriages, pay attention to our kids, and cultivate meaningful relationships with other women?
Any thoughts?
Relationships are vital! I call it living out God’s plan with passion and purpose. We all need each other. Fuel for our life and remolds it. It ignites a fire not only in my soul but in my entire approach to each day and its 1440 minutes. I cannot thank you enough for your blogs. They keep me in focus and just keeping on encouraging me to love people more!
wow! thank you carol. and i agree!!
I long for the relationships of women! The strange thing about this, is that I am a women’s ministry leader. I try and try (seemingly) to befriend ladies at church and just can’t seem to get anywhere. Not that they are not friendly, or that they don’t like me. We are just so busy in our lives as mothers, wives..etc.. that we forget to cultivate friendships and I think too, we really forget just how important they are.
i seriously don’t think you are alone in this. i’ve written about this, but maybe i should attack it again. i find the same difficulties as you.
sigh.
yes, yes, and yes. relationships are, by far, the most important thing to me…which is a far cry from when *i* used to be the most important thing to me.
p.s. you have really nice handwriting!
xo
Relationships are the key to everything we do! Our pastor asked us this question once, and I’ve never forgotten it: why do you do the things you do and who do you do them for? The answer to all relationships must first flow from our love and relationship to Christ! Then we can love others in the way that will produce lasting fruit. Our motive in pursuing relationship must be for the glory of God as well as the good of another. The minute we turn our focus inward to our need, the relationship is choked! I love how your posts make me’ think, Sarah! Thank you!!!
so true – love your perspective on things sarah!
This is another one of your awesome writings.
We were created to not be alone, God saw Adam alone and said ‘He needs someone.’ Friendships are important to our souls. I love that you add your family as friends. Your daughters will value that for many years.
Press on… you are doing good~
you are a great encouragement for others.
thank you sarah. this reminder was needed today. i’ve been hiding out from relationship (so opposite of who i am). i need to be reminded to cultivate all friendships. to not fear being who i was created to be.
Loved this post.
Thanks Sarah! I am longing for girlfriends! Life just gets in the way sometimes. I need to make the time…I think I will!
[...] Connecting, Guest Posts, encouragement This post was written by a word sister, Sarah Markley at The Best Days of My Life. She sums up perfectly why relationships are so important to us. I hope you are [...]
This was really encouraging for me today. It’s inspiring to see all of our relationships through the lense of reconciliation.
“We hire a babysitter and check the movie times so that my husband and I can go out on a date. We try to recreate life before kids for a couple short hours but we ending up talking mostly about the kids anyway.”
This happens to us all the time!
One time we went out and were sitting at the bar at a restaurant. We started talking to the couple next to us…and spent the next hour talking about each other’s kids. Haha!
such a beautiful description of the most important thing in life! thanks for reminding me.
We were created in the midst of relationship, Father, Son and Holy Spirit…. for relationship. I long for relationships more than anything on this earth… with my husband, with my children, with others… It’s the beat of my heart.
beautifully said, julie. thank you. =)
So very true, we all need relantionships to function. I love your persepctive on things thank you
I REALLY love this post! I remember when I was little being so outgoing and loving to be around people. As I got older, insecurities set in and I opted more for a life alone. This past year, God is turning me back into the girl I used to be. Longing to be there for others and create relationships. Thank you for the uplifting reminder!
Is that me on your to do list? Sure hope so…
Yes. I’ll call you tomorrow
Hi Sarah – wanted to let you know your writing has inspired me to take a ‘scary’ leap out of my comfort zone and do something I have wanted to do for years (for decades!). Thank you so much for facing your fears and writing about your experiences doing so here! I have signed up to return to college in my 40′s to major in art and to hopefully follow a dream to open my own studio some day. I’ve felt ‘too old’ to return to school and have pushed aside the desire forever but finally took that deep breath and went for it.
thank you thank you thank you for who you are and your precious heart!! we are soooo looking forward to a real date tomorrow and appreciate you offering to hang with the baby for a few hours!!! looking forward to seeing you too
oh me too!! i’m so glad to help. =)
I love this post. Love it. I love your heart.
Thank you, Sarah, and everyone for all the great relationship/reconciliation talk.
Relationships are complicated too and messy sometimes, but where would we be without them? I want to be re-established with God and others too! love, deb
Sarah, I loved this post. Thank you for the reminder of what life is all about. I love your to-do list, inspired me to get going on building my relationships here in my new home of South Africa
[...] dents people leave in our lives when we come in contact with them. Then on Thursday she wrote about living life with others. What she wrote about creating relationships being her full-time job (again) connected with me [...]
[...] Markley shared on Living Life With Others, little did she know that was the very thing I needed to hear the day she posted [...]