How do you treat people you care about?
This is an interesting question - well, maybe interesting isn't the right word; Indefinite is probably better. I've heard it posed frequently to me (or in close proximity to me) and it has always been rhetorical - an answer really isn't expected, it's only posed for affect. So I have never undertaken to consider it seriously. It was posed to me recently, however, and I was assured that it was an entirely serious question - Deliberation was intended. And so I will deliberate...
It is an impossible question to answer without a context, and the context for this particular scenario is the realization that some relationships are permanent and some aren't. And the discernment between those two types of friends can be difficult for an individual. So the natural thought that arises (for an inquisitive person) is, "I'm having difficulty discerning this for myself, so how do I care for the relationships that I want to retain in such a way that the person discerns that I want the relationship to be permanent?"
It's been a couple of days now and I don't think "permanent" isn't the right word to use, I think "enduring" the word I'm looking for. Because we are not in control, God is, and we know that he will remove us from relationships as best suits His purpose. The only permanent relationship that I know of is marriage and the only reason that that is permanent is because that is the one relationship that God will not separate during life.
So how do you show someone that you want the relationship to endure? Not endure time (cause that is up to God) - but to endure life; the mountains, the valleys, the caves, the peaks, the plains, the hills. How do you show that you want are willing to plod on, to work through all of it - that hardships don't cause you fear, that you are willing to endure pain for the sake of the person?
...I wonder if the deliberation is the hard part, because it seems that the answer is simple...
All that is needed is a gift; a gift that cannot be manufactured - the heart. Because that is Love.
So how do you show someone that you want the relationship to endure? Not endure time (cause that is up to God) - but to endure life; the mountains, the valleys, the caves, the peaks, the plains, the hills. How do you show that you want are willing to plod on, to work through all of it - that hardships don't cause you fear, that you are willing to endure pain for the sake of the person?
...I wonder if the deliberation is the hard part, because it seems that the answer is simple...
All that is needed is a gift; a gift that cannot be manufactured - the heart. Because that is Love.
Love endures all things
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