The “us-ness” of God
Nothing stands alone; everything is in relationship to something else—the universe, the earth, nature, creatures, and people. This is co-dependence by design. One thing flows into another. One thing touches another. And another touches the other and the other touches…
It stands to reason the Creator is relational and as her progeny so are we. We are tribe-like because God is tribe-like.
“God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves… It is not right that man should be alone.’” Genesis 1:26, Genesis 2:18 (NJB).
Why?
It is impossible to love without relationship. For love to exist there is more than one. There is an “us.”
Things are Frustrating
Yesterday things got to me. I don’t know why but an SEO* plug-in on my website stopped working. I spent Saturday morning trying to figure it out. Internet searches yielded nothing and I’m out of ideas. It’s still not fixed.
The incident was a flood water breach in an already high pool of frustration. Rising has been dissatisfaction with job search efforts, again; the silent current carries me I know not where; and further compounded by nightmarish navigation of the publishing industry when seeking literary representation for two unpublished books. The SEO failure spiked my frustration level causing a spill-over in the dam of my reserves. Things were getting to me.
And so often the problem is things–the flotsam and jetsam of the mind. My mind was swimming with things.
The Bucket List
Later that same day my husband and I watched a Netflix movie; typical of our weekend nights ever since I received a subscription at Christmas. As busy people there are movies we want to see but never have. The Bucket List was one such old movie we caught up with that evening.
“What did you think?” My husband asked at the end.
“I liked it,” was the short response. But it was an understatement. The movie lingered to the next day. I stopped to think why.
The story was touching: two senior men from disparate backgrounds–Ed, a business billionaire and Carter, a working class mechanic–share a hospital room but also terminal cancer diagnoses. Confronting a short future the unlikely pair team together. They create a joint list of things they have always wanted to do but never did. To fully live their days before they kick the bucket they jet around the world; each experience scratches an item from the bucket list.
But the journey becomes more than just the things they do–less about tangibles and more about intangibles–less about sharing their experiences and more about sharing their hearts.
Time runs short and each harbour regrets. Ed mourns the loss of unrealized dreams, his youth sacrificed on an altar of early fatherhood, but after 45 years he and his beloved wife have become strangers to each other. Carter has everything that money can buy except what he most longs for: the love and forgiveness of an estranged daughter. Somewhere they lost their way.
The shared journey peels back layers of vulnerabilities. It is in the relating through joy and sorrow–in the intangible touching of another soul–where life regains meaning and forges an unbreakable friendship.
It’s a Relationship Thing
For a while the movie is a respite from pre-occupying things and a buffer from frustration. A reminder that real joy comes from relating with people than wrestling with things. It is the heart-to-heart connections of daily living that make us most alive and whole.
And it is impossible to love without relationship. There must be more than one for love to exist, there must be an “us.”
And God designed us this way.
“God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves… It is not right that man should be alone.’” Genesis 1:26, Genesis 2:18 (NJB).
To be continued (refer next post).
On your bucket list what relationship do you want restored? Don’t wait.
*Search engine optimization