September
2010
Dear Members and Friends of
Central,
Personal relationships cannot be negotiated! They are seasoned and
strengthened through struggle. We expect them to be easy or automatic, just do
what comes naturally and they will work out all right. We assume struggle is
alien, or wrong. As a result we tend to surrender and quit when the going gets
tough. When as a matter of fact, tough going is the raw
material of the mature relationship.
Some people are not willing to pay the price, capitulate to the
difficult situations…negotiations fail – they’re through. Such people often
leave behind them a host of shallow friendships, marriages, business
relationships and broken dreams. The very difficulties that could have
exercised their relationship making it strong and durable became the excuse for
walking away.
•The struggle that could have deepened and sweetened love was used as
the justification for separation or divorce.
•The pressure that would have galvanized a business relationship became
the excuse for dissolving it.
•The difficulties that could have forged a deeper and stronger
relationship between parent and child are abandoned.
“Coalitions cannot be negotiated – they are forged.” Churchill
Commitment is key! Take the original covenant
seriously – determine that the relationship must endure – exclude divorce or
dissolution as options. Quit acting like a spoiled child – pouting and whining
when things do not go your way. Be a man, be a woman who put their values where
they belong – work at your relationships with Christ – wife – children –
associates – neighbors – peers – men and women of a different race – etc.
Persons are infinitely more important than things, and a covenant is far
different from a contract.
"So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you
suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice
there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and
offer your sacrifice to God.” Matthew 5:23-24
In Christ’s Love and Service Together,
Pastor Pat Hartsock
