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this was my group of friends in high school. i’m pretty sure i haven’t talked to a single one of them in almost ten years. relationships are hard work.

i’ve noticed something lately that i’d like to point out. it’s something that we all know but i’ve just recently been realizing it more and more. so what is it, jonathan? i’m glad you asked.

relationships are hard.

really, they are.

i’m not just talking about dating here. i’m talking about friendships, work relationships, mentors, or any other type of relationship you can think of. they suck. they’re ugly at times, they’re mean at times, and no matter what, they’re always a lot of hard work.

not to be negative nancy here, but take a second and think of your close friends. now, after that, think about all of the other people you’ve hung out with or were once friends with who never made it to that “close friends” status or fell out of that category.

the amount of people who aren’t in there is a lot higher than the amount who are.

as we all grow up, so do our relationships. they either grow closer together or further apart. unfortunately for most of us, more relationships grow further apart than closer together. for every good friend we gain, we probably lose two or three friends. we lose those friends for a number of different reasons. sometimes we just go down different paths. sometimes we develop different interests.

and sometimes there are falling outs.

sometimes thinking about those falling outs can be frustrating. you think things like, “i can’t believe he actually said that” or “how does she get off doing something like that?” sometimes those thoughts even hurt. you start to question why that person did that thing. or maybe you start to question if you’re good enough to or if you did something wrong.

regardless of what you do, you start to realize that relationships are hard.

but before you get too down, remember that jesus knows exactly how hard those relationships are.

today is good friday. today signifies the day two of the closest friends jesus had turned their back on him. one of them completely betrayed him and turned their back on him for a few dollars. the other simply denied they knew each other.

the difference is his friends basically had him murdered.

there are times in life when i go through things that are hard. they aren’t fun. they hurt. and unfortunately, there’s nothing i can do to change them. however, fortunately for all of us, jesus has been through all of that. he knows exactly how we feel. he knows exactly what we’re going through.

and the best part is that no matter what, he’ll never do something to cause our relationship to suck.

take some time this weekend to really appreciate what this weekend symbolizes. read the crucifixion story for yourself instead of listening to some preacher read it to you. this weekend is in honor of the best thing anyone has ever done for the cause of a relationship.

our relationships may be hard.

our relationship with jesus doesn’t have to be.

say your prayers and take your vitamins.

have a nice day.

-jonathan

(as you can tell, this is another repost. it was originally posted april 2, 2010 when i was finishing up seminary. my computer bit the dust about a week ago and i haven’t had a chance to write the new posts that i want to write. i hope to have it back up later this week but, in the mean time, i hope you enjoyed this one. have a great week.)