Thoughts from a girl with squishy boots

I was on the road for 3 weeks and through that time I had the opportunity to reconnect with friends that I haven't seen in a few months to several years. Seeing each and every one of you blessed my heart and I was privileged to hear your stories of joy, frustration, courage & disappointments . I am grateful that you allowed me to step into your world- despite the challenges many of you are facing.

Throughout the course of my travels, the Lord has been bringing to light my unspoken expectations; surprisingly my expectations of relationships. I have had a history of unrealistic expectations. It was these that led me on a path of burnout several years ago. Although I feel I have overcome on the work front, personally I still have some work to do. I am realizing that my expectations are too high when it comes to people. This is a problem. For we all know - even I do - that people will fail. I will inevitably fail. Unmet expectations.

What do you do?

I wrote the above this morning and actually had to stop and put the computer aside b/c I didn't know how to respond. I came across a blog of a woman who wrote a post today called "This Is The Person You Will Hurt". She talks about brokenness and how it comes to light in close relationships - specifically marriage. That this brokenness causes you to hurt one another. And forgiveness is how you will heal each other. This is the person you will be asked to forgive more than any other, and from whom you will need to ask forgiveness more than any other in return.

What I am realizing is that it is a guarantee that people will hurt each other and therefore I do not need to fear if and when it may occur. It will occur. Relationships are messy because people are not perfect. Hard to swallow for those overachieving perfectionists... (cough) ...like myself... (cough).

Lord, thank you for starting to show me where my thoughts are misconstrued.

Help me to choose forgiveness when it's my turn to do so.

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32