Relationships

"No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known." -John 1:18

I wrote a children's story about the relationship between a dog and a cat.  When the cat moves away the dog goes in search of her.  The dog develops short, but meaningful relationships with others along the way such as depicted in my drawing of his encounter with the chipmunk.  I've had to pay particular attention to the relationship between objects in my illustrations such as perspective and size.  Just in real life I don't always get it right.  In my drawings I often do a lot of erasing and redrawing.

We are made to be in relationships.  Our first is with our mother and father.  Then siblings, friends, teachers, other family members.  Eventually, employers, spouses, our own children and grandchildren.  Somewhere in there is our relationship with God.  A relationship is all about your interaction with the other person--yours in relation to them--theirs in relation to you.  Getting to know yourself helps a great deal in a relationship because you can only be responsible for yourself--your side of the relationship.  The more you tend to personal growth--which involves a lot of "erasing" and "redrawing"--the better your relationship will be with the others.

The same is true with our relationship with God.  In essence this is what confession and repentance is all about --your ability to admit when you are wrong and then set about doing what you need to do to change.  God made it easy for us by giving us Jesus to cleanse our consciences so that the Holy Spirit can reveal to us everything about ourselves that separates us from the love of God.  We no longer put up defenses, but instead see our weaknesses and therefore our need for God--not just once when we confess our need to be saved, but all the time--moment-by-moment.

I am grateful that God helps me in growing my relationship with Him and others.