A Picture of Friendship

I was talking to a dear friend of mine last night, who was sharing a struggle with me. It was actually one that everyone finds him/herself in eventually…a one-sided relationship.

So, last night my friend was saying that it is hard to be the one who constantly puts it out there when no one meets you in the middle. These friendships could be defined by giving, whether it is emotional or material favors, large and small. These friends are happy to receive and probably assume closeness because of these gifts of friendship, but I bet these friends don’t understand what it looks like from where I sat.

I saw the emotion-filled face, distraught and refusing to give anymore. I saw the promise of building new friendships in which reciprocity would be a rule. It is hard to be the one who always casts the net of friendship into the water. It is hard to be the giver all of the time.

I just had to stop the conversation because it hit me. What does Jesus feel like?

Seeing my friend frustrated and distant because these people were too busy with their own lives to acknowledge kindnesses and genuine love, made me think how I must affect my Lord.

It brought me back to the verse that I blogged about, yesterday. Ephesians 5:10, NRSV, “Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord.”

This is so simple and if you have genuine friendships, you know that this is the joy of it. Finding out how to please your friends is so rewarding, but it needs to go both ways.

This is no different in our relationship with the King, who chooses us and finds pleasure in relating to us. What an incredible gift, and yet, we often put our needs so high in the relationship that it becomes one-sided, changing its course.

Today I am thinking about my relationship with Jesus. I now have a wonderful picture of a heart that longs for relationship and the receiver who has an opportunity to acknowledge it and offer it back. Acknowledging, thanking, praising, talking, loving, and spending time can make all the difference in relationship. I want to know how to please Him.

Do you see balance in your relationships?

Father, thank you for extending relationship to me. Let me see truth today about myself. Let me see our relationship through your eyes, and make less of myself. Give me courage and strength to change.