A R E A S O N A S E A S O N O R A L I F E T I M E
People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which it is, you know exactly what to do.
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrong doing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and it is now time to move on.
When people come into your life for a SEASON, it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But,only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons; those things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person/people (anyway); and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.
Author Unknown
It’s amazing when you find your thoughts expressed in a poem that someone else wrote. For me this is how seminary and internship work.
When we first arrived, at the seminary there were people who helped us move in, and then were gone. Some stayed and became friends. Some moved on to their new congregations, or back to their home country. Yet each one left an impression on my life. Maybe not all impressions were good, but not all were bad.
Internship has been that way too. There were many who came to say hello, many to help us acclimate to our new “church”, many who went out of their way to befriend us, and many still, who will remain in our hearts. Again, impressions that will last, and help me as I move forward to our first call in 2015.
Internship was not just for Doug to learn the “ropes” so to speak. It was a learning time for me as well. I was lucky enough to get a real glimpse in to our future. No, I did not get the winning lottery number, rob a bank or been given the “gift” of millions. I cannot see who my friends or enemies will be, all though all that would be helpful. But I do see the long hours, the short hours. I see the missed gatherings and the gatherings all with family, friends, and church members. I see the stress, and not so much stress that every job holds. I see the light in the faces of those who trust in GOD, those learning to trust in GOD and those who have turned away from GOD.
I have also learned things about how I want to be and how not to be. I’m still learning how to say “NO”, if I really cannot do what is asked of me. I have learned to let people down easily without offending them. Although I could still use some more work on that. I do still struggle with feeling guilty after saying “NO’, but does that ever get easy?
The biggest thing I have learned overall is Good-byes never get any easier.” So as our good-bye lunch was today. I cried more than I eclectic. I never realized how easy it is to get attached to a church or the people in it. But this is our journey.
There is a season, a reason and a lifetime.