That’s a picture of a great looking group, don’t you think? I sure do. This fun picture was taken while we were all enjoying a dinner cruise on the Mississippi River. In this picture I see people who are laughing. I see friends who are holding each other close. I see relationships that will last a lifetime.
At Habitué and The Living Center, it’s starting to feel like a real family. We’re laughing together. We’re sharing life together. Like close brothers and sisters, many of us will call each other at all hours of the day (or night) to talk. We are all in a season of training and growing together. It is a sweet time.
There’s something else I see. You might not see it by looking at the picture. You won’t even see it if you put it under a microscope. I see friends who have at one time hurt each other. They may not have done it intentionally, but it’s happened. Sometimes words can cut. Sometimes forgetting to follow through on something you’ve said you would do leads to mistrust. Tears have been shed over a simple miscommunication.
We’re all broken vessels. So often situations like that lead to fractures and cracks. When we’re hurt by someone we become cracked. The eventual leaks caused by those cracks make us not able to successfully do what we were created for.
I have seen relationships that have taken years to form easily thrown to the side over a little crack. How do we avoid this in our own lives? In our own families?
When Paul addresses the church in Colosse, he spells it out plainly for us. Paul says we are to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and forgiveness. Those are all relational attributes that are needed in effective relationships. Parents, can you imagine being responsible for raising your children without having the ability to be patient? Husbands and wives, how difficult would it be to trust each other wholly and completely if your spouse wasn’t gentle with you? Even in the friendships I see in the picture. How can you not forgive someone you care for? Do you see how important all of these attributes are in a relationship?
Even as important as those are, it says we are to put on love over all of them. Sounds kind of vague, doesn’t it? When I researched the word love, it’s applying agape love. Agape love could be defined as brotherly love, affection or goodwill. Could it be that simple? Could the key to our fractured relational vessels not leaking is being kind and humble with each other, being gentle and patient covering them in a mixture of unconditional agape love?
Father God, it’s my prayer for all of us that we would be able to clothe ourselves in the wardrobe that Paul has so vividly described. May we be known for our compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love. I know some of those things come easier to some of us than to others. Father, I ask that you would balance us. That we would not only acknowledge the need for these attributes in our relationships, but Lord, that we would embrace them and pray for an abundance of what we lack. We know you will supply. May your Holy Spirit fill us Lord. Amen.
