As I sat down to begin this post, I honestly had no idea what I wanted to talk about. I had no clear vision of what I was meant to share with you this week. Some of the ideas that I came up with over the past few days seemed forced or inauthentic. Some seemed too broad, while others seemed too specific.
It was quite the conundrum.
But of course, because this is God’s message and not mine, I had to get out of His way.
I ended up walking away from my brainstorming session for a bit. At least until I got my head on straight and opened my ears wide enough to hear what He was telling me.
Relationships.
That’s what I’m meant to write about this week.
And not just the romantic kind.
I’m talking storge (affection), philos (friendship), and agape (charity). The three forms of love that, quite frankly, are the most difficult for many people to engage in properly. And without storge and philos, I find it next to impossible to even get the romantic relationship right. But that’s another story…
Personally speaking, I’ve always struggled with maintaining consistent and strong relationships with people. It takes more work than one would imagine.
I’m an introvert, I’m a natural solo being. I am someone who thrives for extended periods of time alone. I’ve done so for many years. And I’ve rarely had the desire or the need to change that. When I need to have a “people fix”, I go to ONE person, have my 30-minute sit down, then go back to my cave. It’s kind of a selfish process, to be honest.
When I serve at Heartland, I typically spend the entire Saturday before alone and in my own space. Because I know that my tolerance level for social interaction will be depleted by that Sunday evening.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with being an introvert. I don’t think being a person who enjoys solitude is a bad thing. But being a person who enjoys solitude to the point that it becomes a crutch, thus not allowing God’s full creation plan for us to take place, is a bad thing.
You see, God never intended for us to be alone. He never intended for us to walk this life by ourselves. In fact, it’s impossible to do. He made it so. Right from the very beginning, He planned on community, he planned on relationship, He planned on connection — not just with Him but with others like us. With humankind.
“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him’.” (Genesis 2:18 NLT)
With the making of heaven and earth, land and sea, plants and animals, God created Adam and his companion, Eve. One of the VERY first creations that graced this earth was relationship amongst man.
He created us in His likeness. So that we could not only get to know Him through His plans for us, individually; but also so that we can know Him through interacting with others, who are also made in His image. Because we are each so different, every encounter we have with a person is never the same as the one we’ve had before and won’t be the same as the one we have after. Each relationship is like a fingerprint. No one is the same.
“When God said it wasn’t good for the man to be alone, he wasn’t speaking just about marriage. Genesis 1 and 2 are passages about God’s vision for humanity. God created woman to come alongside the man in this battle of life. She watches his back, he watches her. They’re in this battle together.” (Carolyn Custis James)
It amazes me how easy it is for me to forget that I am not meant to walk alone. I need my family, I need my friends, I need the people that I meet on the street, I need the gentle smiles that I receive from clerks at the supermarket. Those are all God moments that should continuously remind me that He is working. He is constant. He is moving. He is present. But I become so focused on removing myself from the chaos, from the noise and from the confusion that His plan is lost.
Of the 7.1 billion people that inhabit this earth, each one of us has God in us. Each one of us is part of this thing called the Body of Christ. By definition, the body cannot fully function without all of its parts. Functioning requires community, and community requires relationship.
“It is not good for the man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18)
We are not meant for lives of complete solitude. Human beings are social creatures. He made us that way. It’s honestly one of His greatest gifts to us. And I need to remember to express my thanks for such a gift — by loving and fostering my relationships.
- Christina Marie
