Relationships = Gift

Relationships…. Or maybe I should say ‘people.’ No, that is not right either… What I wanted to talk about is our relationship with people. Man is naturally a social creature, but how we interact with the individuals who daily cross our paths can have a profound effect on who we are as a person. When we are young our parents encourage us to choose our friends wisely, but it really seems like the only way we learn this is to have a bad experience or two.
In the Broadway song People the character sings about her encounter with different human persons and in almost jealous tones observes: “people who need people” – that is, people who love others and are not emotionally cut off from them- are the “luckiest people” It is interesting to dwell on why she says this, and why it is of any importance.
No one has written more profoundly on this subject then Blessed John Paul II, and a personal favorite of mine is his play the Jeweler’s Shop. In this he delves in the human person, revealing the struggles of each individual as they interact with each other and grow in friendship and understanding.
There are always times in your life when even the best of people can rub you wrong. Not too long ago I was helping a friend out with her wedding, and in the last days before the ceremony things rose to a fever pitch. How easily you can make a wrong choice when you are annoyed and how quickly you can damage relationships by selfishness. Sometimes I really believe things happen to guide our choices, and right when I was struggling with all of this I stumbled on this Bible verse:
“Serve as an example to the believers in your speech and conduct, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” -1 Timothy 4:12
It goes without saying if we don’t have a real relationship with God, we will not be capable of having a deep relationship with others. We were created to be gifts. To gift others with the uniqueness of our person. Ralph Waldo Emerson expressed it this way:
“The only gift is a portion of thyself. Thou must bleed for me. Therefore the poet brings his poem; the shepherd, his lamb; the farmer corn; the miner, a gem; the sailor, coral and shells; the painter his picture. This is right and pleasing, for it restores society in so far to its primary basis, when a man’s biography is conveyed in his gift.”
Do we reflect ourselves by how we give of ourselves? Relationships mean natural reciprocity. Are we ‘gifts’ to those around us?
The cross is the sign of the perfect gift. Jesus held nothing back in giving us himself, and taught us how highly we should value our relationships with others. He paid the ultimate price in his relationship with his creatures. It isn’t easy to love people sometimes and to continue working on relationships. In fact it is often the hardest thing we do, but we have the standard set for us already. Can we be a gift to others as Christ is to us?

Rachel Zamarron

Rachel Zamarron

Rachel is a wife, Catholic, and cowgirl. Married to her sweetheart Sam, the two of them are enjoying the adventures of life hand-in-hand.

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2 thoughts on “Relationships = Gift”

  1. Pingback: Relationships = Gift | VirtuousPla.net | Relationships

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