True Connection

Did you cringe at the announcement of a "group project" in school? If you did, you are not alone. Often times, it is easier, quicker, drama-free, and less painful to just do it on your own. But that is not how God designed us. When He created the world in 6 days, each day He sat back and said "it is good." Yet, on the final day, he saw something was missing. These words were spoken thousands of years ago, and still ring true today, "it is not good for man to be alone." And so, God made Eve, out of Adam, reminding us that life is not an independent study, but a group project. We need true, deep connection.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get the luxury of having God create our soul mate for us, with no one else on the planet to choose from! For most of us, relationships have been tricky. Friendships, work relationships, family relationships, intimate relationships — you name it, and we’ve had one go wrong. We’ve all been lonely, with no real connection… we’ve all had bad connections, that have led us into painful situations… we’ve all had fake connections, leaving us alone when we really needed them. These experiences cause us to want to do life without connection. But without relational connection, nothing new can come into our life. Just like in the natural realm, connection brings new life. Scientists call it pollination, but when it comes to relationships, it’s the same way. We cannot bring anything new into the world, or our lives, without connection.

Thankfully God has a lot to say about connection. The connection we all need, and search for from the cradle to the grave, is true connection. This type of connection allows us to be open and intimate with someone, without fear of rejection or judgement. For Adam and Eve, they were naked and unashamed. For me and you, that means we can be our true selves, authentic and open. It’s hard to find a relationship like this in our world today. But when we do, we must nurture these relationships.

As exciting as it may seem, God never intended us to live life on an island to ourselves. But rather, His way, and the best way, is to live in deep community, with true connection. When we live life connected to the right people, we will see the new begin to flow into our life.