I was speaking with our daughter, Kristin, yesterday and we were discussing people who enter and leave our lives. I think that the conversation centered around my post the other evening revealing that I had deleted 500 people from my contact list. Kristin is going through something quite similar in a number of ways – dealing with changes in her life as well.
Kristin works at a place that is going through a traumatic downsizing. She is still on the bus, but she is struggling with some of the consequences of surviving. Sometimes, we even refer to this as survivor syndrome – when employees survive a lay-off and wonder why they were so lucky as to be able to keep their employment. Sure, the workload can go up for those who remain, but that’s not usually the cause of this syndrome. People tend to go back and reassess the circumstances that led to them being able to keep their positions.
And you know what? Sometimes, you just can’t know the answer. The survivors are moved into other areas of responsibilities and it’s difficult to tell how or why decisions were made regarding who stayed and who didn’t. Anyway, Kristin was upset enough about all this that she decided to call me late last evening, and that’s rare for her. We spent some father – daughter time speaking about all this and she let me know that one of her friends told her that people come into our lives for one of three reasons; and therein lies the title of this post. People are there for a reason, a season or a lifetime…
After our conversation was over, I thought about what Kristin had told me. Of course, it seems to be true. I think sometimes God sends people into our lives to help us through a particular problem. Sort of a guardian angel kind of thing. After the crisis is over, paths separate and each party goes their own way. Then, of course, there is the period of time when people walk together for an entire episode, or season, of life. In my case, this would include people from some of my corporate clients and perhaps some of my classmates at different times of my life.
What is interesting to note is that some people make the transition from reason, to season, to a lifetime – almost seamlessly. Relationships don’t start out for a lifetime – that’s where they end up. And only God knows why He puts certain people in our path to help us through particularly difficult situations.
As good as it may be to have people in our lives, even for a lifetime, it’s not as good as having Christ in our lives for all eternity. And we can be assured that Christ is there for us. All we have to do is to believe. The verse for this evening is from Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Isn’t that the truth?
We can’t begin to fathom what God has done from the beginning to have community and a relationship with us. But He has set our hearts on an eternity with Him. My encouragement this evening is to let you know that God is there for more than a reason, a season or a lifetime. He’s there for all eternity. My prayer is that you will take God’s pursuit of you seriously. And another thing, I pray that you will realize that at times, God will put you into the lives of others as a way to assist them through the difficult times of their lives. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…