Relationships

"Relationships are fun, but that's not what they are." That is a quote by Jordan Marshall, a now married man who has poured his life into me for the past four years. He is a man who's advice I generally take no matter what, and when he tells me something, I am inclined to believe him. I think that this quote gets at something, but really the word that is left out is "about." "Relationships are fun, but that's not what they are about." This is the backdrop to my thoughts on relationships.
Relationships are fun, but they are also really difficult and extremely risky. Risky in that I have seen the absolute most hurt in relationships. Divorces, break-ups, tears, etc. It so often leads to pain. And we all try to avoid pain, consciously or not. The thing is, we love relationships. There is an allure about them that draws us in. It's something that we do not otherwise have the same element of touch, the same person who will continually support us and build us up and point us. We lose someone who has 'those feelings' for us, which always feels good. There is nothing quite like relationships, but they are incredibly dangerous. Investing emotionally, spiritually, and especially physically that much into someone only to have them change and turn their back can be heartbreaking, or worse. I have seen so many tears, so much pain; worse, I have caused much pain. I would implore anybody to take relationship risk seriously and enter into it with only the fiercist of calculation and trepidation. Trust God, most definitely, but understand that there is a risk that is always run. That risk is serious and undeniably difficult to traverse, but must be done so carefully.
"Relationships are hard, but that is not what they are." Some very wise words, right there. We need not engage willy-nilly, but must be extremely careful.
~Good Luck and Good Eats.