In order to live life as the masterpiece God created you to be you must have healthy relationships. Life is about relationships and as I wrote in Friday’s blog: “Every relationship ends up somewhere, few relationships end up somewhere on purpose.” In order to make sure your relationships end up somewhere on purpose you must make sure you nurture them.
A relationship that is not nurtured will deteriorate. It happens all the time, two people are best friends, and they can’t live without one another, only to find themselves no longer talking with one another or worse, in court. What happened?
To ask what happened is the wrong question, the right question is “what didn’t happen?” And what didn’t happen is usually nurturing. Unfortunately the relationship ended up somewhere, but it wasn’t somewhere on purpose.
My wife Kathy and I have learned that our marriage is as good as we want it to be. Not as good as I want it to be or as good as she wants it to be, it’s as good as “we” want it to be. It takes “two” people who are committed to nurturing a relationship to keep it healthy, growing and on purpose. This is true of a marriage relationship, business partnership or friendship.
Here are 3 ways you can nurture your relationships for success this week:
1. Be Committed To One Another
Don’t just assume commitment, express commitment, or reassure commitment.
2. Prefer One Another
When two people quit preferring one another, the relationship will quickly lose its nurturing quality. Prefer one another and you will be able to turn a bad relationship to a good relationship.
3. Serve One Another
The Bible teaches us to: “…serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.” (Gal 5:13-15 NLT)
How should we serve one another? In love! Notice the alternative, biting and devouring and destroying one another. Whether the relationship is a business relationship, friendship, or much deeper, to get healthy and stay healthy, to end up somewhere on purpose, it must be nurtured.
You are a masterpiece created by God. And while you are not the creator of the masterpiece you have a part. Your part is to develop the palette He works with, your Life Palette. And making sure you have good, healthy, growing relationships on your Life Palette is imperative for masterpiece living!
Next Step Question:
What relationships do you need to nurture today? Think through the concentric circle of your relationships, begin at home and work your way out through everyone you come in contact with throughout the day. Which of the 3 actions above do you need to apply to those relationships?
Life Palette – The Book:
Get your signed copy of Life Palette and begin living everyday of your life as the masterpiece you were created to be!