i must admit, i didn't really know what the next topic would be for this blog. it's a project that was placed on me by the holy spirit and so, i must be obedient and not fly off into my own interpretations and delusions when i speak. with that said, a few moments ago i was given this topic and we shall see where it goes.
as a tutor and teacher, i always try to find commonalities between the familiar and the unknown. the familiar being what you know, and the unknown being what i'm trying to teach you. with my literacy class, i draw the commonalities between sounds and experiences to help my students understand just how many words they actually do know, in an effort to teach them new concepts. when i tutored mathematics, i told my students that addition and multiplication were about increase, and adversely, subtraction and division about decrease. division, is the breaking apart of a whole into pieces, and subtraction is the deduction of a piece from the whole. follow me.
sometimes, in relationships, we come to a point where there must be a subtraction of sorts. even when we relate to ourselves, we often feel it necessary to take away those unsavory things that we believe are causing us strife or are hindering our success. within friendships, be they an awesome twosome or a circle of sister-friends, there can be division.
maybe you and keisha are getting along better together than you keisha, kim, allison, sheena, and michelle. slowly, you and keisha break apart and are simply just cordial to the rest. visits and outings become more few and far between. you miss the others, but... someone just had a baby and you'd love to go see her but... someone else is getting married but...there's really no love lost, but there's no love gained either. the division of a group, the breaking apart of a whole into pieces can be a natural progression or a manufactured dissection. either way, what once was, is no more. and how do we deal with that?i'll ask you to ponder this, the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. he is cunning and tactical, aiming at the heart, mind and body until the soul is all at once weary and screaming uncle. he operates in an endless cycle of subtraction and division to bring about derision. taking you away from good people and good experiences so that in the end he can ridicule you in the midst of your loneliness and heartbreak.
when was the last time you really thought about how your relationships end? today, i found myself not brooding but simply thinking in earnest about how the friendships i've had over the years have ended. what was the genesis of the split? did i lose anything or gain anything from my departure? would it have been worth salvaging instead of just walking away? some people i've reconnected to, but it feels as if there's an elephant in the room because we never talked about why we dissolved the friendship. the enemy at once tried to convince me that there are yet people in my life who need to be tossed aside. people i need to separate myself from in order to rid myself of the frustration and loneliness i felt today. isolated from my friends by space, time and obligation, i often find myself in a rut when i get voicemail and no chance to hear their voices. it's tough. but i'm tougher.my point in all this is, we must be careful, mindful, thoughtful about how we interact with each other. the ultimate goal in life is to know and experience unending abounding love. God loves us, and He allows us to interact with each other so that we too can know and understand love while we are in these homes of flesh. this life, in comparison to eternity is but a flash in the pan, we may as well make the kinds of choices and decisions that will lead us to an enjoyable experience before it's over. acts of love. with each other, for each other. try it.
