Relational Life’s Beauty and Power

If you could picture yourself...

In a garden, as a gardener, in the grand landscape of life, to be the cultivator of souls—a friend to all. To tend the soil and prepare the seed, and to plant and water and guard this garden; that will be the objective. And quiet moments will come, where a cool beverage is enjoyed; when, to sit and observe the garden is bliss. We reflect on our love.

As a miner, fossicking for rare deposits, collecting the ore and refining it, and selling it for a fair price on an open market. Processing the precious ore is the downstream objective, but it is always the exploration that guarantees the sustainability of the mining venture. Just the same, the cultivator of souls, a friend to all, the miner maintains their relationships, but they are always seeking new ones. They meet the eyes of strangers with the friendliness unknown to fear.

As a sailor sails the seven seas, with nothing to see but sea on the horizon, with hardly any vision for land, the sailor trusts. The sailor trusts the winds, and they sail with purpose, taking sure bearing as they plunge through the waves on a hope for their destination. Just the same, the cultivator of souls, a friend to all, the sailor meets people as he or she meets the seas—with open and trusting expectation.

Visions of Transcending Fear In Our Relationships

Whether we consider ourselves gardeners, miners, or sailors is probably perfectly irrelevant. Each of these roles seeks to meet the people they greet with the allure of love—they have won over their relational fear which could otherwise block relational intimacy.

They have learned the beauty of looking someone in the eye and being real. They have learned that to judge another really is to judge the self. They don’t go there.

They consider it an honour to know another person—to really know them. Indeed, they see it as the pinnacle of life; the greatest of God’s gifts—being devoid of fear.

The landscape of the transcendent life is a marvellous one. It takes us well past the fears that constrain us. It takes God at his Word—an almighty and trustworthy Word.

When we determine that life is all about relationships—and hardly anything else—we know the purpose of our tasks. The tasks are not more important. The tasks serve the relationship, not the other way around. The tasks are a means to an end. The tasks merely support the relationship.

When we consider that life is all about relationships, then we know God’s mandate for our lives. We begin to focus on becoming cultivators of souls—a friend to all who would have us.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.