Season of Restoration

Something occured to me this morning. Do you know how some relationships can just go stale? This can happen for a variety of reasons, and I believe that it's not usually noticed by either party until it's too late. I LOVE people. I LOVE being around people. However, I have learned the following about myself over the last few years: What I love the most about people is the attention that they give me! With that being said, the actual "love" that I feel for most people that I'm in relationships with has been mostly conditional. That is a problem.

Many of the relationships that I have become a part of as a young adult up to now were formed based on the aforementioned, sadly. And over the past 2 to 3 years, I have found myself lamenting over several friendships that seemed to no longer exist. One of them I definitely didn't think had a chance, but there were also others that just fell by the wayside over time. I take complete and FULL responsibility for the potential demise of every relationship that I've been in that turned out this way because of my attitude going into them.

Over the past few months, the Lord has been guiding me through a period of renewal. People that I haven't spoken with in years are reappearing in my life. For me, this serves as an indication that the Lord has a reason for these relationships to be fostered again. I pray regularly for Him to allow me to cross paths with those that He knows I can benefit from and those that He has decided need to benefit from what He does through me. I can see this happening, and the power of it is AWESOME.

I decided a few months back to try harder to cease placing so much of a hardship on others to make me feel a certain way emotionally. I haven't realized for most of my life that I have done this. When you become married and especially when you become a parent, very many things become more clear if you pay attention.

Thank you, dear Heavenly Father for 2nd, 3rd, and infinitely many chances to reclaim things that are precious to me. I love you Lord! And I love my family and friends in a way that I haven't been able to until recently...unconditionally. :-)