Newsletter Article
February 2003
Fulfillment
How many of you are fulfilled? Do you have the relationships you want? Are they perfect?
We were created for relationships. Perfect relationships.
Gen 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
God came to be together with His creation. To talk together. To spend time together. That is the kind of relationships we were created for. We were also created to live forever. In Gen3:21 God said about this about us. “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” If we had not fallen, could we have taken from the tree of life? Perhaps that was what was intended all along. We would live forever. Now, how does that affect relationships? What keeps us from building better relationships? Time? If I had more time I could…….??? You fill in the blanks.
We could spend more time with our kids, spouses and friends. Build better relationships. Spend more time with God in the cool of the day. That sounds pretty good to me. How about a long ride in the mountains with friends, some lunch and no hurry to get back. We have all the time in the world. Really!!
Now the problem. We don’t have forever in this life. We don’t get to have the perfect relationships. We have misunderstandings. We don’t have the time to spend with our families, friends or God. So what do we do? The only thing I have found that works is to ‘get over it’. Now I don’t mean to be insensitive but not begin able to have the perfect relationships we so desperately desire can be really frustrating. Our spouses don’t understand us. Our friends are too busy to see us. Our kids have all the things that have to be done now. School projects, ball practice, term papers they need your help with. The house needs cleaned, dishes done, meals cooked and not enough time. We have to work late, get the quarterly report done by tomorrow and handle that difficult customer that didn’t get the shipment you sent. Now what?
I want to encourage you to ‘get over it’. I said earlier that you did not have forever in this life. But we do have forever if you have trusted Jesus for your salvation. This life will pass but we are destined for greater things. To fulfill what God created us for. To have perfect relationships with Him and others in His creation. Now, I don’t have all the answers but I know that the only things that are going to last are God’s Word and human souls and we have to focus on what lasts. Not on the stuff that is here for a little while and is then gone. So when it gets frustrating, overwhelming and distracting from the important stuff get focused on what is important and ‘get over it’. Give your kids a hug. Take your spouse out for some time together. Spend some time with your friends just enjoying them. Get together with God and walk with him in the cool of the day. Now that is what we were intended to do.
Doing my best to ‘get over it’,
Jerry Robertson
Chaplain CMA Crossties