6 August -“When did I become not enough?”

A young couple meet, they become friends, then best friends. They love being together all the time and think about each other constantly. When they aren’t together they send notes, leave gifts, and hate being apart.

He proposes, she says yes. They are so happy. They plan their lives together; where they will live, all the things they will do together, the places they will travel to. They plan a life together. There are candle lit dinners every night, and both agree that what they have together is “more than enough”.

Time goes by. Life gets busy. She gets offered a promotion; him a business opportunity, it looks great. She joins a different club to him and meets new people. Slowly they begin to spend less time together. They love their intimate candlelit dinners, but its’ only once a week now.

Time goes by. A baby comes along. He has to share his best friend now. She can’t imagine loving anyone or anything more than this little person. She’s tired all the time. The candlelit dinners become once every three months, then six months. Then they are forgotten. It was something they used to do.

The years continue to fly by. Life is okay. More babies arrive. More sleepless nights.

The kids grow up. Other people and other interests are part of their lives now. It’s not bad, it’s just they have less time for each other now. That’s understandable isn’t it?

They talk sometimes, but they both know they’re not as close as before. Their relationship has become stale.

He feels like she thinks he is not enough anymore. She thinks that, but would never say it. She doesn’t have to. Her life and how she spends all her time away from him says it all.

Every relationship can end up  with this scenario if we don’t value them. In a world with so many distractions, pressures and opportunities it takes work, imagination and all of God’s help to keep our relationships connected.

The other side of this is that we can all be like this with our relationship with Jesus.

We hear about Jesus, and become friends, then best friends. We build a loving relationship. He accepts us and we feel loved. We make plans together. Jesus is the centre of our life now. We make time for him, just us and Him. We feel great, so free and so much happier.

Then other things, other pursuits come in. Worries, kids; we get busy. Opportunities come up. It’s not bad; these things just move our focus and affections. We no longer think about Jesus so often. Time just with Him becomes less and less. We get bored, and slowly our hearts drift away. We want excitement, we want other things in our life.

Jesus stands by and asks. “When did I become not enough?”

“When did it ever become more than coming away and focusing on me. I will always come and meet with you. When did it ever become more than that, where people needed to be entertained, when people felt like I was not enough?”  

It’s so easy for our hearts to be engaged and full of everything else if we are not watching. Today check your heart. Have you drifted away from your spouse? Is your life filled with other pursuits, worries, life? Has the spark gone? If so take some time to reconnect again. Give each other time, perhaps revisit some of the things you did at first. Pray together and ask for God’s help.

Then also ask yourself this question, “does my life and actions say to Jesus, “Yes, you are enough for me”, remembering that all we need ever do is spend time with Him and He will come.

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19)

Prayer: Jesus, help me to be honest where my relationships are at. If there has been a drifting apart between myself and those I love, please help us to reconnect. Where I have neglected you, or preferred other things over you, please forgive me. In Jesus Name Amen.