Saturday, January 7, 2012

Finding Freedom In Recovery

Okay, I just woke up from a dream. In that dream a brother of mine and his son, who work together were at loggerheads over something. I recognized that they were going nowhere until this issue was resolved. It's my dream so I can do or say whatever I want! So I said to both of them: "One of the keys to a healthy relationship is being able to say three powerful words." They both looked at me in great anticipation, (Again, it's my dream) as I told them that those three words are I was wrong. In an instant the problem was resolved and I was free to wonder off in my mind to the following analogy.
As a high school student I enjoyed all kinds of sporting events. When I had the time I liked to watch my school's track meets. I was intrigued by the variety of challenges like the discus, shot-put, relay races, long and triple jumps and the pole vault. My favorite but most frustrating event to observe was the hurdles. The athlete's abilities had to include speed, strength, timing and recovery to complete their task successfully. To me this is similar to our closest relationships. Speed represents our passion for the relationship. We need strength to overcome any hurdles, timing to know when to speak, and more importantly, when not to! And finally, recovery is critical to grow in our health. In my estimation recovery is the most important to both the hurdler and the person in a relationship.
Here is my reasoning. A hurdler can be extremely fast, have powerful lift and amazing timing. But if after a part of his body hits the hurdle while attempting to clear it, what kind of an elite athlete will he become if he stops and spends all his time in remorse over the mistake he just made?  He'll go nowhere! The test of a great hurdler is what he does when that lead foot hits the ground after the hurdle. Even if his knee or trailing foot touches the cross-piece, it is important to recover and move on.
So it is in our relationships. Our passion, our strength to overcome and our timing will not make us complete or elite in our relationships if when we hit that hurdle and our lead foot lands, we choose to look back with discouragement and not desire recovery.
There needs to be a willingness to admit that yes, I was wrong...but we will recover.

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