We Choose Relationship

I've decided that when I get to heaven that I will be able to spend all the time that I want with all of the people that I want to be with whenever I want.. There are so many times when my heart just aches to be with family members or friends. I miss my kids and my grandkids. i I miss friends that I haven't seen in years. Maybe I just saw them the other day, but I miss them. I want to be with them. I miss my parents, who have already moved on to heaven. There are so many things that I want to talk to them about and to hear their thoughts. There is not enough time in the day to spend as much time as I want with all of the people that I want to connect with. So, this is one of my heart's desires when I get to heaven. 

We all long for connection and relationship. It is a very deep seated need that God placed in us when He created us. When we don't have it we often look for other things to fill it. It is a definite void in the lives of those who come to the PARC. Most of them have not seen their kids in years and are not able to talk to parents or other family members.. They are lonely and they miss them. Friendships are hard to form and at best are short lived when you are on the streets. They miss connection and relationship.

One of our values here at the PARC is 'WE CHOOSE RELATIONSHIP". And, it is a choice. Relationship is always a choice. Will we be vulnerable to risk connection? Are we willing to invest in this relationship to sacrifice our time and energy? Will we give our attention to listen, try to understand and to actually hear? We have to choose. Some of those who come are sometimes hard to like. They are difficult or argumentative. Sometimes they are angry or unkind, but we have seen over and over again the power of choosing relationship. It is important to look past those 'symptoms' of loneliness and rejection, anger and pain and choose to step in and to know them. To see them and to hear them.

It is interesting to see what happens when people walk through our doors. They act differently than other times in their day to day lives or when they are in  other places. They have told us that in this environment of peace and safety, with acceptance that it allows them to let their walls come down. When someone has chosen relationship and taken the time and effort to see them and get to know them that the walls that they have put up for protection and survival come down. It is in those moments that we get to see who that person really is. We see their hearts and hear their stories. As we get to know and see them and the relationship is formed and strengthened, we begin to see change. You can see it on their faces and in their countenance. You can see it in the peace that begins to come and the confidence that grows. You can see it as they begin to believe in themselves and move to their next.

We choose relationship because it is vital. It is important. It is powerful. It changes lives. It changes me.