If relationships were non-perishable

Photo Credit: According2Meredith.blogspot.com

Prized Relationships Do Not Perish

Peel off that expiration date sticker off your relationship... go on... DO IT! =)

 

I had this flash of inspiration (rather than expiration) yesterday of something I could pray over relationships in this world. It's half fantasy and half prayer-- you choose how you want this post to resonate with you.

The safe part of not being in a relationship is that there is no danger of dissolution. And if your attitude is that relationships are bound to fail, why start one anyways? Maybe you've been relinquished as a child; maybe you were un-friended in elementary school; maybe your parents split up; maybe your boyfriend broke it off with you before college; maybe you never got the ring and got the goodbye text; and maybe, painfully so, you got a divorce.

There is a legacy of broken relationships out there. I cannot deny this. My own life is a testimony to the fact that relationships are not all set in stone, none-the-less DNA. I had this naive notion that upon adoption I'd see the world full of great relationships. Most of what I see are the bad ones. The good ones rarely surface. What a tragedy that our exposure has painted the way we conceptualize relationships.

If any one thing should be dependable in this chaotic  and (sometimes) scary world, that thing should be relationships: parents, siblings, cousins, adoptions, marriages, blended family. If we allow relationships to be temporary, then how do we decide how many strike outs are "allowable"? How many times do we want to be cut from the two-man team?  What does that say for our value of others?

 If relationships were non-perishable...

What if instead of a marriage license or a birth certificate, we got a metaphorical can that has our relationship illustrated upon it. And in HUGE INDELIBLE LETTERS, it had "no-expiration" on the label?  What if what was promised on that label was accountable to a higher authority, be it law or covenant? What if this label certified its contents? Who wouldn't want a non-perishable relationship?

The level of security would be astronomical and promote quality. If you knew you were stuck (in the best meaning of the word) with a person and had no other option but to stay in a relationship, wouldn't you do your darnedest to make it a great one? If I'm stuck somewhere, I want it to be an amazing place or phase. If I get bored, I want to be bored of the best stuff and I would have no other option to be "bored in that relationship." 

This is the season of new marriages and new friendships for people going off to college. (Congratulations again for the graduates out there!) I propose that we put our friendships and marriages in a can and slap that "no-expiration" label on there. How about a tattoo of our roles: mother, daughter, sister, etc... on our hearts.

{ My Prayer Over You }

Dear God, thank you for providing us with people we can walk through life with. You drew the blueprint for relationships of all shapes and sizes. You showed us, through your Son Jesus, how to show love to a myriad of people of all walks of life. You taught us stories of people who were shown forgiveness and redemption through relationship. May we ask for your outpouring of love so we can share that overflow with our friends and loved ones. Ultimately, let us fashion our relationships after the one you have with us that is unending and precious. I pray these words in your Loving Name, amen.

{ YOUR TWO CENTS }

If this post spoke to you, would you mind sharing and commenting with your most treasured relationship? Do you have some incredible relationship story to share with us? Is there a relationship in history that you admire? Please keep this conversation going! Thank you so much for reading and spending your precious time on my blog. Blessings to you and your family~  

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