You see, I live in a college town, and have lived here since I was two years old. But for some reason this town seems to be a very transitional place for most people. I meet people in high school or college, or while serving them while they are involved w/CRU while in college. I form these super-close friendships...and then they move away. An awful lot of them seem to move to the same cities as others (Nashville or Louisville areas especially) but just away from me. And I've been very cranky about it. Making snide comments to friends who are moving instead of being fully supportive or sometimes just shutting down. It's hard. I miss my closest friends--none of my "best" friends even live in the same state and it gets hard to fully invest in relationships b/c I get this idea that they are just going to move away in a year or so anyway so why bother. Of course, there are plenty of people that do stay here but I just haven't taken the time to fully invest.
Well, today I was catching up on My Utmost for His Highest devotional and, once again, God smacked me in the face with a truth that I have just been to whiny to see.
"Over & over again God has to remove our friends to put Himself in their place, and that is when we falter, fail, and become discouraged.... Your priorities must be God first, God second, and God third until your life is continually face to face with God and no one else is taken into account."Now, I don't believe that this means that we should ignore Christian community or serving others (obviously that is unbiblical) but just that we should not rely on others more than we do the Lord. And that is exactly what I have been doing. I sit here and fuss and throw pity parties b/c "everyone is leaving me" while blatantly ignoring the only One who never will. Ouch.
Lord, please draw me closer to You and teach me to view my human relationships as a gift from You, not as what sustains me.
