The Year of RELATIONSHIP | Part One

RELATIONSHIP.  That was the word He gave me this year.  At the end of 2010, I asked, begged, prayed, pleaded.  I had a lot of ideas of what my word should be for 2011.  He didn’t pick any of those words.  I could have made it anything I wanted.  But that wasn’t the point.  I needed to know what the Maker of Heaven and Earth thought it should be because He is the One that sees it all.  My vantage point isn’t broad enough or high enough to navigate eternity’s waters.  And, as it turns out, there really was no other word for this year.  All the words I had in mind He summed up in His one… RELATIONSHIP.  It was the year of RELATIONSHIP.

Our years are worth naming, aren’t they?  Our years are what we have that amount to this life spent here in this place wrapped in time and imperfection and each one gives us something different, brings something new to the table, takes something away, chisels the hard character stone, shapes us a little more for this heavenly ground we are edging towards.  God is purposeful with each one.  He doesn’t waste anything and our years aren’t a waste.  So each one is worth remembering because He remembers every minute, He knows every second. 

I’m not talking about family vacations or important milestones.  I mean how He reveals more of Himself, shows us more of His glory, draws us closer to His heart... refines us in the fire to come forth as pure as gold.  The way He has with us every year, how we mature in our faith, how He teaches us His ways, how He sheds the scales pasted over our eyes one layer at a time… slowly, intentionally.  If He ripped the scales like a Band-Aid, quick and cold, we would be blinded from the pain and overcome with hopelessness.  But that’s not how our God works.  He is gentle.  He takes His time. He caresses our heart to encourage the growth.  He wants us to lean in firm, fold up in His lap and engage in His story. He has next year’s plan prepared, and the year after that, and after that and one day we’ll see how He intricately fit them all together, how He piled our years one on top of the other and engineered our path straight to His eternal glory.   

Things we want to remember, we name.  And for me, 2011 was the year of RELATIONSHIP and I certainly want to remember.

So here I am… the year of RELATIONSHIP almost in my rear view mirror, but my bags are packed full of keepsakes to carry with me into the years to come.  And, I am already starting to see how 2012’s name will fit right into this landscape… but that’s a story for next year.  What have I learned this year, here in the year of RELATIONSHIP? 

I’ve taken notice of the priority we give human relationships.  The complete irony in it all.  How we need God more than anything, how we need each other, how life was never meant to be done alone (you know, no man is an island?), yet we pretend we don’t need a soul, that we can cover it all on our own holed up by ourselves in our oversized houses that we hardly let poeple see because it's not presentable, and we hang a curtain of perfection in front of our imperfection and expect to find a multitude of relationships overtaking us like a tidal wave.

Well, that's just for starters... I'll be unpacking my thoughts over the next few... weeks?