Cultivating Relationships

Here we are, nearing the end of February - the month I fondly refer to as "love month".  Between the gearing up for Valentine's Day and the "aftermath", it seems as if the entire month has the word love surrounding it.  I am not complaining - I happen to enjoy Valentine's Day.  I have always looked at this day as not just celebrating spouses/significant others, but equally important, to share love with all members of our family.

I have a "true confession" to share.  I have moments when I'm not always the most loving at home.  I can hear my family saying "you ain't kidding", especially after a long day at work.  It seems as if I can speak kindly to those at work, and share happy moments with friends, but when I'm tired, frustrated, or angry, those that are closest to me seem to get all the "backlash".  They may not have been involved in getting me to that point, but they can receive the brunt of my exasperation.

Fair?  I think not - and I'm sure my family would agree.  Can you share the same scenario?  We can all sit down in a focus group to discuss this, but I'm thinking the bottom line would be this:  We feel most comfortable with those we love the most.  Therefore, it's okay to let our hair down around them and just be us.  Is that right?  It's great to be ourselves around those we love, but it doesn't give us the right to treat them unkindly.

Cultivating our relationships with those that are most important to us is crucial.  Cultivating means it takes work - as if cultivating a garden or pruning a tree.  What type of work:

• Treat those closest to us with the deepest respect - and showing it through our actions.
• Be gentle with our family, and show them through our body language that we care.
• Whether a gentle hug, a card of encouragement, or a smile, all those actions show respect & love.
• Speak words that will build our families up instead of tearing them down.
• Raising our voices and sharing unkind words can easily destroy a relationship
• Leave situations that are out of our control out of our homes.
• Speak to God on the way home to shed our frustrations and leave them on the shoulders of One who can handle of all of our anger.
• Pray together, for each other and those outside of our homes.  All need prayer.
• Recognize the love Jesus gives to us and let us share that with our families.

I'm sure there are dozens more ideas we can share on how we can cultivate our relationships versus tear them down.  Let's make a commitment to each other.  We won't take our difficult days out on the ones that we love most.  We will give our tough days to our Lord, the One who can handle all of our tough days and bring peace to us.  We will show those that we love most that we DO love them, all the time.  It's time to do some cultivating - let's garden together and bring love and joy to our relationships.

Heavenly Father, help me to cultivate my relationships instead of tearing them down.  Help me to focus on building up those around me so they can see and hear how very much I love them.  Fill me with your love, Jesus, and let me share that love with those around me.  In your loving name I pray.  Amen!