Fruitful Thought

  Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.      1  Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV                                                                       Relationships are inevitable, we all have them.   The truth about relationships, some are healthy, and some are unhealthy.   Healthy relationships are built on a strong foundation, “Love”.   As the scripture indicates love is no easy feat.   If we are intentional in our relationships, they will thrive, and we will survive. I found this to be true in my relationship of co-parenting with my children’s bonus mom.   This relationship started out with unhealthy love.   It was unkind, impatient, envious, boastful, arrogant, very rude, and disrespectful at times.   Let’s just say I had some growi

Faithful are the wounds of a friend [who corrects out of love and concern]. Proverbs 27:6a AMP This verse reminds me of a time when a friend brought a word of correction to me. I was surprised when he did it because we were “friends”.   I expected my friend to go along with my wrong.   Yup, I didn’t know the meaning of friend . It’s amazing, after the initial response to myself, “ how dare he” , I thought about what he shared.  I realized he cared enough about me, to tell me what I needed to hear, oppose to what I wanted to hear.   That moment had a positive effect on my life that I will never forget. We are still friends today and I value our friendship even more. Although it may have been hard for my friend to share a word of correction with me, I learned that he valued our friendship more.   As the receiver of the word I had to get over myself and realize he was right and understand he was just being my friend. It doesn’t always end that way, but friendship comes with the re

 I realized at an early age that friendship is valuable.  I understood that although you encounter many people that you may enjoy being around, that does not constitute them as friends.  I am cautious of calling people my friend.  I like to think I choose my friends wisely.  Often I would say, “ I have many acquaintances but few friends ”.    What about you?  Do you consider everyone you meet your friend?  Is there a criteria one must meet to be your friend?  How do you identify true friendship? Friendship is a reciprocal relationship characterized by intimacy, faithfulness, trust, unmotivated kindness and service. (Theological Workbook) These are the characteristics that I look for when choosing friends. But for true friendship my expectation is more specific to include loyalty, honesty, wisdom and love.   Like expressed throughout Proverbs. Some friendships do not last, but some friends are more loyal than brothers. ~ Proverbs 18:24 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise

  This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. John 3:16 MSG This is a popular scripture. You’ve heard it multiple times in sermons, you see on bumper stickers, and during football games behind goal posts. If you didn’t know any other scripture, you knew this one. Lately, I’ve been meditating on relationships and, God placed this scripture in my spirit.   In particular as it pertains to my relationship with Him.   You see, most of the time when we think about that verse, we look at it from the perspective of giving, “He gave His Son”.   But, the LORD showed me a different angle that it’s an invitation. He’s inviting us to be in relationship with Him and it’s grounded in love. It’s not like our earthly relationships, where if someone shuns our love invites we move on.   He’s persistent with it. It’s said best in His Word. Love is pat