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The give and take that brings refreshment

'The Lord never brings thirsty souls to dry wells to drink.' Be sure to pay attention to the people God puts in your path. Did God bring them to you? Or did God bring you to them?  Pastor Tom Mercer

Have you ever thought about the people in your life?  Why they are in your life, their role in your life, your role in their life, the length of the season of relationship, etc.  I'm a root planter by nature.  I dig in, establish roots, and stick.  It's my preferred way to be in relationships but sometimes, I have learned through hard and painful ways, a relationship's roots are shallow and going to get dug up.  Then I go through a season of evaluating the relationship using the prompts I just posed.  Were they in my life because I was their "refreshment" or because they were mine?  I'm learning over time, and with age, that the people that come and go in my life are God ordained for the time they are present.  Sometimes they are for my benefit and other times I am for theirs.  Sometimes the purpose of our relationship is something that spans years and other times it is for months.  At the end of each (although some never come to an end - a few names are crossing my mind and heart as I type that) I am learning to be grateful for what I received from each relationship, even if it ended in a not-so-ideal way.  Even in those kinds of relationships I learned some valuable lessons that fill me up for later relationships.  And what I learn from my relationships I can pass on to others who cross my path.  And they can teach me from what they have learned.  It's the give and take relationships that bring our hearts refreshment and "fill our wells".  Don't take for granted the relationships in your life, they are established for a purpose - either you for them or them for you.

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