As you look at this picture I hope you will be reminded of how important good relationships are in our lives. I say good relationships, because good relationships are ones that bring us life and ones where we give life. They are ones based on love and not fear. I created this picture for Christmas to give to the people in my life that I care most about. The idea for it came from a great deal of reflecting on what relationships mean especially after the passing of my dad a little while back. Unfortunately, it also is a reminder of how we all fall short in our pursuit of being that person who is always looking out for the other. I hope if you feel those feelings as I have, that you will be reminded of God’s grace and love for us in that He has sent His son, Jesus, for us so that we are forgiven and so that we can be filled by His love in a perfect relationship.

When you come to the end of your life, it is not the things that you have accumulated that will matter to you. It will be the love of the people around you that will mean the most. I hope this picture will serve as a reminder of this truth and that you will make the most important relationships a priority in your life. Jesus’ commandment that we are to love one another just as He has loved us is central, because that’s truly how we were designed to live. What we see all around us and especially in the news is exactly the opposite. Since we were all born into a world where we didn’t receive all the love, guidance, care and nurturing we needed, we went out to pursue what we thought would fill that emptiness inside. Unfortunately, the picture I have in my head is of people represented as a bunch of vacuum cleaners going all over sucking up everything and everyone they think they need. This is why good relationships need to be nurtured and cherished.

Many of the ideas in my picture came from a book called “Living from the Heart Jesus Gave You” which has been such a wonderful resource in my walk with the Lord. It was written by a group of Christian counselors who, with years of experience, got together to put down in writing what they had seen work successfully in the lives of the people they counseled. Without good relationships, all of us struggle in this world. I hope my picture will remind you of their life-giving importance.