God is in the Everyday: Relationships

This is my second installment in the "God is in the Everyday" series. I will continue to explain why I don't think it is necessary to be on a mission trip, getting an emotional high, at church, or "doing something amazing" to be loving God and living a meaningful life.

If you are not a hermit, you probably have at least a few relationships. It might be a family member, friend, coworker, or cashier you regularly see, but you probably regularly relate to someone! I believe that God is a huge fan of relationships, and I think that He probably cheers us on as we treat each other carefully with love.

In my experience with my husband, I have found that marriage is an everyday experience that challenges a person to love more selflessly. It is also a rewarding experience as we watch ourselves successfully grow together in love despite patches of grumpiness and frustrations. I wrote a little bit more about marriage over a year ago here: http://insideout7.blogspot.com/2009/09/marriage.html

In general, I have found marriage to be a great way to remember and experience love for God each day.

Also important to me are friendships. I have friendships with people who share my faith in God, and I have friendships with people who don't share my beliefs. When people share my beliefs, there is sometimes an easy rhythm of encouragement and understanding. I would not give up my friendships with people who don't agree with me for anything, though! It's not always easy to deal with differences, but I learn a lot and receive love from these friends. Although I don't always do it well, I try to love them with God's love despite differences. I believe there is a lot of healing and hope in God, and I want this for them, but I think people sometimes need to meet and like God first. I always hope that people can meet God through me. Perhaps they still don't believe what I believe, but I want people to know through their relationship with me that God isn't an angry man in the sky. Rather, He is someone who is interested in them and would rather like to sit down and have a chat with them.

I think that I will leave it up to your imagination to figure out how God is in your relationships with your children, coworkers, acquaintances, etc. I find it enjoyable to think about, though. Because people are so important, it is nice to remember how significant each type of relationship is.