Us

When you think about your relationships, friends, family, kids or a spouse, who do you think of? Especially when we make a decisions, what do we consider? Obviously our spouse and our kids take precedent over other relationships, but how much do the scales lean toward them? It’s also human nature to take our own needs and desires into consideration, too.
But how much do we think about the ‘us’? And what I mean is that when making a decision, especially big ones, there are a number of factors to consider. If we are considering a move, we take the job situation into account. We take our spouse’s thoughts and feeling. If we don’t ask the kids out-right, we hopefully as parents will at least consider how moving would impact them. Then there are other family members and friends and other relationships that we consider, not to mention the circumstantial issues that we take into account. But in just looking at the relationships that will change, how do we balance it all out? And the most diligent of us will try to take all of these factors and make the best possible decision available to us. But even the most diligent of us might not take into account the ‘us’ in all of those relationship.
And what I mean is that the Hebrews had a way of looking at relationships in that each relationship was its own separate entity. That means that in my house with 5 kids, there are not only 6 individuals, but there are entities that make up the relationships between us all. If my math is correct, that’s 15 other entities in our home. And the Hebrews would have considered them individuals. These relationships were seen, cared for and valued just like another person. The ‘us’ was just as important as the ‘me’ or ‘you’ or ‘him’ or ‘her’.
And I think if we look at those relationships, those ‘us’s’, it changes the way we might approach life. I think if we consider how something we say, do or think might impact that relationship as a whole, it might help us reconsider our responses. If we care about a relationship, and not just the person, I think that can help us to deepen those ties we have.
I think Jesus’ prayer for his disciples in John 17 might refer to this in some way. He prays in v 20-21, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
I pray we find ways to look at not just ‘you’ and ‘me’ but think of the ‘us’. God bless.