Relationships are funny things and never the same. They move and shift; you might even say relationships evolve. The parent/child relationship is a good example, starting with the parent being totally essential and wanted by the child, gradually shifting in the mid to late teens, where parents are sometimes rejected, ignored and viewed as unnecessary. Sometimes, late in the parent's life the dependance can become totally reversed.
Some relationships are dealt with and adjusted daily, others are for short periods (like at work where people come and go). Other jobs require a lot of intensive interaction -- like a doctor dealing with an ongoing or intense malady or a construction worker that does a couple-month long project in your home and leaves or others that last for years and develop into long term relationships. Male/female relationships can be intense and intimate, only to end in bitterness and betrayal. We all have friends (really acquaintances) in clubs and churches that require little to no maintenance, because you may only see them an hour or two a week or month. I cringe when I hear of couples that separate with one leaving to move to another state for work, or missionaries where one is gone for months to years at a time.
Maintenance is a key component to any relationship. It is checking and keeping feelings, thoughts and emotions in check, shifting with the ebb and flow of each others changes and challenges. If you are in an intimate relationship and have not changed and adjusted yourself, chances are that relationship is not as intimate as it used to be and possibly it doesn't exist anymore. Change is inevitable, get used to it.
We are designed to have a relationship with our God. It is to be a growing and ongoing thing that evolves and changes. All too often that relationship is stifled or dormant and is basically the same as it was from inception.
Jesus put it this way, "... and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."
A disciple then asked, "How will you manifest yourself to us?"
Jesus answered, "If a man love me, he will keep my words, my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."
Here is the SMB translation of these verses, "When somebody starts to pay attention to My words: to remember, think about and even do them, it shows they love me and I will reveal more of Myself to him and We, all three of Us, will love him and will come and make him Our residence (become intimate roommates with him)."
What is your relationship frequency level? Yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly or even more frequently? Too often the verse in Revelation that says "Look and see, I stand at the door and knock" is interpreted as Jesus trying to get into the unbelievers heart, but it actually is addressed to believers, even believers that He has made HIS home with and He has become locked out of! Has He become locked out because of neglect? wrong choices? or maybe someone has changed the locks!
Some relationships are dealt with and adjusted daily, others are for short periods (like at work where people come and go). Other jobs require a lot of intensive interaction -- like a doctor dealing with an ongoing or intense malady or a construction worker that does a couple-month long project in your home and leaves or others that last for years and develop into long term relationships. Male/female relationships can be intense and intimate, only to end in bitterness and betrayal. We all have friends (really acquaintances) in clubs and churches that require little to no maintenance, because you may only see them an hour or two a week or month. I cringe when I hear of couples that separate with one leaving to move to another state for work, or missionaries where one is gone for months to years at a time.
Maintenance is a key component to any relationship. It is checking and keeping feelings, thoughts and emotions in check, shifting with the ebb and flow of each others changes and challenges. If you are in an intimate relationship and have not changed and adjusted yourself, chances are that relationship is not as intimate as it used to be and possibly it doesn't exist anymore. Change is inevitable, get used to it.
We are designed to have a relationship with our God. It is to be a growing and ongoing thing that evolves and changes. All too often that relationship is stifled or dormant and is basically the same as it was from inception.
Jesus put it this way, "... and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."
A disciple then asked, "How will you manifest yourself to us?"
Jesus answered, "If a man love me, he will keep my words, my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."
Here is the SMB translation of these verses, "When somebody starts to pay attention to My words: to remember, think about and even do them, it shows they love me and I will reveal more of Myself to him and We, all three of Us, will love him and will come and make him Our residence (become intimate roommates with him)."
What is your relationship frequency level? Yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly or even more frequently? Too often the verse in Revelation that says "Look and see, I stand at the door and knock" is interpreted as Jesus trying to get into the unbelievers heart, but it actually is addressed to believers, even believers that He has made HIS home with and He has become locked out of! Has He become locked out because of neglect? wrong choices? or maybe someone has changed the locks!
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