We all know that we need relationship. As English author G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Two is not twice one. Two is a thousand times one.”
We all want to be known fully for who we really are, and yet that’s often just what we also fear more than anything else. We have our pride after all.
We believe the cultural myths that we can make our own way in the world, that we can fight our own battles.
We often don’t want a helping hand because it threatens our false sense of self-reliance. And this is where many times we end up getting stuck.
But that’s not how we’re hardwired.
Like God, whose image we reflect (Genesis 1:26: “let US make mankind in OUR image”), we are social beings. We’re designed to give and receive love in community.
As author Frederick Buechner wrote, community is. "[h]ow we, by grace ... little by little ... become human; become whole, become truly loving. Out of selfness we grow towards selflessness."
Yes, having relationships with people can be scary and it can be thrilling, it can frustrating and it can be fulfilling, but it’s what we need.
