Relationships!

Strange how when you start thinking about something it seems to hit you on all sides on a subject, the synchronicity is uncanny. A couple days ago in my journal I ruminated on relationships and what that means.

Relationships are valuable.
Relationships matter.
Relationships are bloody, nasty, gross, stinky, combative, and full of guts and blood.
Relationships are not pretty.
Relationships are worth the fight.
Relationships are exhausting.
Relationships require self-evaluation and going deeper.
Relationships mean forgiving.

Perhaps, the reason I am thinking about relationships is because I am getting chemo like my dad and some of the things he did are making sense to me. I am undergoing a poisonous process in order to kill off whatever it is attacking my body and it leaves me feeling vulnerable. My ailment is not cancer, but it is just as painful, just as life altering as cancer. It changes the way you view things. When my dad had about a month left to live he arranged a family time with my brother and his family, Carri and her family, Joy and her family, my mom, and me for a long weekend in Bend Oregon. I loved the outing and I loved spending time with my family. Now 7 years later, the reason behind that outing had nothing to do with my dad dying. He wanted to impart RELATIONSHIP to us all. Something that has been a struggle for every single person, how to have one when we don’t agree on things, when we view life differently, and what is truly important in life. Let me tell you, it isn’t being President, money, politics, religion, even Jesus tells you what is the most important thing besides believing in him, RELATIONSHIP, that is what is the most important thing you cherish and value at the end of life. How you have impacted and shown the people in your life how much they mean to you and that they are valuable and that even though they piss you off, stink, and cause you to want to punch them in the face at times. They have meaning. They are valuable. They are loved by you. Life wouldn’t be the same without them.

How do you hold relationship? Do you have any regrets about past relationships? If so, what would you do different? Is it too late to impart forgiveness to them or them to you?