Wendy Ripaldi's blog

I had lunch with a dear friend today. He is silly, funny and I always find him endearing to talk to. A spiritual person who does not know God or His grace, he always respects and listens to what I tell him about our great God's enduring love and plan for our lives. We were discussing relationships and the interaction between people. He said something he has never said that made my heart break for him. He has a girlfriend that he has been dating for six years and he is comfortable because he can be complacent and not have to put effort into this relationship. He further explained that he loves his work and that the relationship allows him to focus on that work and not give up anything emotionally to this relationship. He said something profound next, "I hate seafood, particularly salmon and that after six years she did not know me enough to not make that for Christmas dinner. We go out to lunch and as my friend you remind the person not to put pickles on my plate because you know I dislike them so much. Why is that?" It was on the tip of my tongue to say that it was his own fault that it was like that and you get out a relationship what you put into it. Then I began to realize that was not it. The trick here was not the relationship or lack of but the complacent nature that ruled over it. It steals the joy and discovery from it all, the interaction that God desires for us to have with each other. I began to search for the right thing to say and it would not come. I asked if he did not desire to find love and companionship, to start a family or to share his life with someone to which he answered that he has never wanted those things because they have never been presented to him in such a way that would make him desire that life. I began to think tonight is complacency is more prevalent than we think. How often are we complacent in our relationships, particularly our relationship with God? It is easy to be dependant upon God when things are going wrong or we need Him but so easy to push Him to the back of our mind when everything is easy or going the way we would like. We do this with all kinds of relationships, when someone is difficult or has too many problems, when situations are complicated or messy, when someone gets on our nerves or even if we find life to be to busy to bother. How often does God desire for our complacency to evaporate and be truly dependant on His will for our lives? How often do we miss the things or people He puts in our lives because of this?