Relationships have been fundamentally affected by the last year and a half of pandemic. We have changed, and are changing, as are our relationships.
Cultivating relationship means attending to relationship. In times of massive change, attending to our relationships is more important than ever. Hopefully, our most important relationships give us energy, and we give them energy in return.
As a practice of gratitude, I invite you to make a short list of the relationships in your life that sustain you. One by one, visualize the face of each person on your list, or bring their voice up in your mind. What do you feel? Now, write down one or two aspects of each relationship that sustains you. What does it feel like to have that list of sustenance?
As you go over your list of what you receive from each relationship, consider how you maintain the relationship. What do you do to nourish your relationships? Do any of them need water or fertilizer or sunshine? Name one thing you do to nourish each of your relationships and thank yourself for it. Make a note to yourself if any of your most important relationships need attention.
May your relationships hold you through change, and may your energy exchanged in them be powerful, equitable, and life-giving.
With Love,
Rev. Jennifer Nordstrom, Senior Minister