Do the Math in Your Relationships

Relationships are intended to be life-giving. People are meant to give to each other, to lift each other up, and to create connections with each other. There’s much more than that, too, but relationships are the greatest gift God has given us here on earth. It is the way we experience him, and also the way we experience joy, love, and purpose.

With this truth in mind, we should live with groups and individuals who are for our betterment. That doesn’t mean just finding people who will encourage you, it means finding people who are life-giving to you, even if that means experiencing challenges and conflict. It also means you shouldn’t spend all your time with people that drain you, if you can help it. If all our life is dedicated to service to others, and we have no time to fill ourselves up from time to time, we will burn out. We all need life-giving people, the kinds of friends where we don’t have to try too hard to have fun together, cry together, and have naturally intimate conversations.

Do the math. If you give all of yourself to something that takes from you and very little to something that fills you up, are you going to feel replenished? Will you be effective? It doesn’t mean that life needs to be perfectly balanced, where each day and rhythm is so planned and intentional that there is no room for spontaneity or people that need served. The key is to recognize that we all need to be filled up. Replenished.

Find people, create rhythms, and set boundaries in order to live a full life. Remember even Jesus’s intention was that life through him was meant to be abundant (John 10:10). Let your life flow through the replenishment of Jesus, and find people who help you follow through with it. We may never live a perfectly balanced life, but we can do some math in our relationships to ensure a better one.