This week at Chosen Generation Ministries, we continued our study of unhealthy relationships. After a quick refresher of last week’s information we covered a bit more ground by discussing the question of responsibility in interactions. It was revealed that “I am responsible to you but not for you”. I am responsible to you, in the sense that I need to treat you with respect but I can’t be responsible for how you react to it. How freeing to know that, yes, I am required to treat you with respect but, no, what you do with that is not mine.
We then explored how to know when a relationship is about to cross over into unhealthy. Invariably, it starts with words. We have all heard the childhood chant of sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. How wrong this is. Words can punch like a fist or cut like a knife and the damage is invisible to the naked eye. It is amazing though, how much your connection to the speaker has to do with how the spoken word is processed. If you have a close or love attachment with the speaker, it is not uncommon to first receive the words and then possibly filter them. If the person speaking is a mere acquaintance, it is usually filtered and then received. As we grow healthier, we will grow the capacity to first filter incoming words regardless of the source.
I would encourage you to join us as we take the time to really learn how to recognize and then process the prevalence of unhealthy and abusive relationships in our lives. I am enthused that not only am I gaining this knowledge but my tween son is being exposed to it at an early age. Then we can both be equipped to deal with the many different relationships that will enter (and some leave) our lives. See you next Sunday.