Relationships for 6 Year Olds

When I was very young before I had any real girlfriends I used to think that when I got a girlfriend I should set up a contract to say that I was her boyfriend and that she will love me until death or until I met another girl whichever came first. If she ever wanted to renege on the deal I would be able to take out the contract and say “ha…you have to love me because it says so in this contract.”

Sure I would try and impress her when I arrived to school in a cowboy outfit or sang extra loud at the Gr.1 school concert. I would sporadically hold her hand and give her flowers I picked in the garden. These acts should not only serve to impress her, but entitle me to get what I needed out of the relationship. I don’t know what a 6 year old needs out of a relationship, probably biscuits, but whatever I needed she was bound by contract to give it to me.

I have since learned that inter-personal relationships are slightly more complex than forcing people to like you because of a contract they signed.

I think sometimes we view our relationship with God in the same way I viewed my relationships with girls when I was 6. We seem to have a sense of entitlement when it comes to God. We follow Him and then we are entitled to happiness, healthiness, and a really big house in heaven. We forget that we are invited into a relationship with God, a dynamic love affair with Him.

It’s as though a relationship with God is simply about what we can get out of it, namely escaping hell and getting into heaven. Christianity can quickly become a stepping stone to a never ending supply of milk and honey, and the beauty of the relationship that we are welcomed into gets missed.