made for relationship

My heart is sad today.  Feeling the loss of precious family members.  Preparing for impending goodbyes with a dear friend who is moving and my seniors who are graduating.  Feeling hurts from being human.  If I had my way right now, I would take my family and move to the middle of the desert.  Isolated, seeming to escape the hurt and loss that loving people deeply brings, but not really.  I would never survive in isolation, even though my heart longs for it sometimes. 

We humans were created from the very beginning for relationship.  Read Genesis chapters 1-3.  God made Adam for relationship with Himself.  And then God saw that Adam needed another human for relationship, so He created Eve.  There is no denying it.  Woven into the fabric of our beings is the need for relationship.  That was and still is God's plan.

Jesus came to earth to restore our relationships with God.  Since the fall of Adam, humans had been separated from God by sin.  Jesus was was the One and Only sacrifice that could restore us for eternity.  The devil failed in separating us forever from God, but he keeps meddling in our human relationships in an effort to thwart God's plans for us.

Mark 12:30-31 (NLT) says, "And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.  The second [command] is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself.  No other commandment is greater than these."  There you have it!  We are made for relationship.  Even when it is hard.  Even when our hearts break.  Even when goodbyes are imminent. 

Jesus knew the very same pain...He was betrayed by His closest friends.  And yet, He died to restore relationships.  That is the bottom line.  I am not feeling confident, but I choose to pursue relationships...with God and with people...because the truth is that I was (and you are too!) made for relationship!