Wednesday, December 24, 2008

The Yellow Box: Focused Relationships


About 3 weeks ago I connected with a good friend from high school that I had not spoken to for over 19 years through Facebook. As a matter of fact, I had not communicated with anyone from my high school for over seven years. Because I didn't care? No. I think for a lot of reasons… I moved, pace of life, new friends enter the scene, and suddenly it's 19 years later. But as I look at the relationships around me and through the years, here are some observations:

  • There are a few hundred people I would like to stay in contact with, grab lunch, play golf you name it- I genuinely love these people.... however, I have to settle to celebrate what they do from a distance.
  • For example, some of my neighbors within 800 yards of my house I would like to get to know better. Yet it only comes in small drips.
  • People we "do life with" tend to change and drift from year to year.
  • I can only seem to get depth in 6-10 relationships at any given point in my life.

The Yellow Box (above) represents my purpose in life, my passion, and what I was created to do.

Relationships and people matter. I can spend some quality time with scores of people and it's all good. But something special in relationships happen when they enter the yellow box. It's not about news, sports, and weather- it's living life on purpose. It's not living a life entertained and growing old, it's climbing a mountain of mission and locking arms with people. What does this look like in your life? Do you know who's in your yellow box right now? Are you spending too much time outside the box? Or, are you still determining what your yellow box is?


Merry Christmas family and friends. I love doing life with you!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow.
you can synthesize a point like no other.
merry christmas to you and the family.

Miss Mandy said...

Can you fix the pic so we can enlarge it?

I'd love to read what some of those circles represent.

Anonymous said...

Comments on relationship value and reality of keeping close to just 6-10 are right on. This posting speaks right to the heart of it for me.

Challenge as a Christian is to balance enjoying and cultivating inner circle without neglecting out reach and service to those in need. Matt