Relationships

Throughout the last few weeks as I have been juggling my schedule to write the next posting I kept hearing the word relationships.  This seemed logical since my husband and I had just finished facilitating a weekend long conference on marriage called the DNA of Relationships.  However in light of the events that have taken place across the globe in Japan, the persistence of that word in my spirit is more meaningful.  What is the significance of relationships in our lives and why in these tumultuous times is that important?

Relationships are the glue of life.  They are what drives us, what comforts us, what nurtures our souls when times are difficult.  As a parent, the relationship we have with our children motivates us to go above and beyond what we think we are capable of accomplishing.  Ask any mom who has gone nights on end without sleep due to a sick child.  Ask a parent of a child with disabilities.  As a spouse we will put the well being of our mate above our own well being, sacrificing in order to make things better.  A father committed to his family will go for weeks without seeing them in order to provide for them.  Those of us with aging parents will put their well being above ours in order to insure their care and comfort.  This is just a sampling but it provides a glimpse as to how relationships do motivate and move us.

The glue of life has been irrevocably altered for thousands upon thousands in Japan in the past few days.  Untold thousands have lost the relationships that sustained them.  Each morning and night as I lay in my bed I contemplate how extraordinarily blessed I am.  In more ways than I can count, I have an unbelievably blessed life.  But my blessing is far deeper than the relationships I have with my husband, my family and my friends.  I have a single fundamental relationship that truly is my life link.  It is the one that keeps me both grounded and simultaneously floating above flood waters. This is my relationship with my lover God.  He is the one who is my glue and who sustains me despite the chaos that is reigning around me, and chaos is reigning.

I had one individual sardonically say he does not believe the world is going to end and he is not going to run around scared.  I pondered that statement in light of my knowledge of the Word and my relationship with my Lord.  I do know that at some point in time, the world as we know it is going to end.  The Word is clear that we are to see the signs and need to pay attention.  The birth pains have increased in frequency, of that there is not doubt.  Just Google recent earthquakes and track the acceleration that has occurred in just the last few months of earthquakes that are 7.0 or greater.  Do I experience any trepidation about this evidence?  Not in the least.  Great sadness for those who are experiencing the traumatic impact of these events, but no fear.  How can that be?  My relationship with the Lord is my foundation and that cannot be shaken no matter what happens in the natural.

One of the definitions for relationship states "a state of affairs existing between those having relations or dealings".  What is the state of affairs with those with whom you have a relationship?  During the marriage conference that we facilitated, my husband and I witnessed a wide range of "the state of affairs".  This state of affairs was driving the dynamics of those couples' lives, their interactions, their conversations.  In some cases, the glue that had held them together was drying out, allowing them to pull away from each other.  Does that happen in our relationship with God?  Have we allowed our state of affairs with God to deteriorate to the point that He is no longer that which sustains us?

I learned today that only .5 percent of the nation of Japan are believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.  That is only one half of one percent.  I think about the devastation that has occurred and cannot in my wildest imagination understand how I would feel having watched a powerful Tsunami wave wipe away everything that was familiar to me, my home, my neighborhood, my workplace and in many cases, the people with whom I interacted each day.  If those are the relationships that have sustained me, how do I move forward from there?  Unquestionably, the nation of Japan is moving forward.  Newscasters report with amazement how calm and orderly everything is in Japan.  No looting, no riots in the streets, no rudeness in the massive lines for food, water and gas.  The culture in Japan is diametrically opposed to most of the world.  Look at Madison, Wisconsin, Cairo, Egypt,  Libya, Iran, etc.  I do not claim to understand why this is, perhaps it is as simple as survival.  When a people survive what Japan did in World War II, one may just become numb to massive catastrophe.  So in what does one place hope?

I began to look for a quote from Scripture to place in here, and was overwhelmed by my choices.  There are 130 references to hope according to my Strong's concordance.  We know that we know that our hope is in Jesus Christ.  Our hope is in the belief that we have an eternal future with Him that will totally dwarf this present existence.  Our hope is in the truth that we know and study in the Word itself.  No matter how insane this world in which we live appears, we know that it is but a vapor and will pass away as quickly as it emerged.  The prophetic was established long before I took my first breath of earthly air, and it will stand long after I take my last breath.  God's Word is abiding and infallible.  My hope is that God will continue to be Who He is and will fulfill every aspect of His promises.  My relationship with Him is the glue of my life and through it He provides me with unquenchable hope.

Take time to meditate on the glue of your life.  Contemplate what is happening in Japan (and what has happened in Haiti, Chile, New Zealand).  Search your own soul and seek what is your foundational relationship.  In whom or what are you placing your hope?  Imagine that life as you know it today is suddenly irrevocably changed due to circumstances totally beyond your control.  To whom would you turn?  Examine the level of Shalom that you currently have in your life today.  From where does that emanate?  Are you looking expectantly heavenward or are you fearful of all the events that are unfolding around us every day?  Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.  I do not want anything interfering with the most important relationship that I have.  How about you?