So you ask me, “what is the most important thing that you have in your life right now?”  Immediately, I would say, it is my relationships with my wife, my kids, my family and friends, and God.  Then I might say something like my job, my church, my worldly possessions, etc.  But is that true? Is that what I long for late at night when I am near-sleeping?  Is it what I think about when I am alone?  Do I dream about making those relationships better?  Well, maybe not as much as I should, or as much as I used to.  Why is that?  You might ask.  Well as a human being I am really interested in things that I can do well.  I want to do those things and often. I want others to commend me for the things I do.  So at night I dream about being a rock star, being a noted writer, speaker, pastor.  I dream about this stuff because I am at least somewhat sure on how to do these things better.  I put effort into these things because, maybe – just maybe now – I can at some time in the future do these things well.  I practice, and practice these things to get better at them. But what is it about being human?  What is it about these tenuous strings we have holding us all together?  They break so easily.  If the number one thing of value that we possess is our relationships to others, how is it that these things can be destroyed so easily?  A one-time conversation can destroy a lifetime relationship.  Why is that?  You can spend 20 years in marriage, and go through all sorts of terrible things together, and one early morning conversation over “who does the housework now” can end it.  I mean end it.  “Sure,” you might say “assuming one of you is crazy!”  If that is what you really believe, you have a lot to learn about people. You can be lifetime friends – ever since childhood—maintaining friendship long distance for years over the phone and email and facebook, and occasional visits, and funerals, and family vacations, and one day -- because of a jealous spouse – the 28 year friendship is over.  Boom!  Gone!  You can work and work and work to make a life for your kids that you never had and in the end, they write you off as an insignificant person in their life because they rarely saw you growing up.  You can stick up for folks that have spent their lives fighting for dignity and one evening they decide that you are the enemy – for no other reason than the fact that you decide to get married, decide to change jobs, or decide to wake up in the morning.  What the Hell is wrong with all of us? We’re broken, aren’t we?   Broken little pieces of something much bigger – much better than we could ever imagine.  We are a mysterious masterpiece of parts that belong to a much more beautiful whole.  We are held together by fibers, though.  That’s it!  Just tiny microscopic, fragile little broken, tearing and splitting little fibers that change like spider webs sewn into the corner of a building.  The rain and the sun and the weather and everything else gets to pour down constantly and unapologetically on those fibers and tear them and splinter and destroy them and sometimes all we can do is watch in terror as it happens. If asked, “what is the most important thing that you have in your life right now?”  Immediately, I would say my relationships.  But to be honest, after 45 years of being on this earth, being in relationship, I am only marginally better at keeping those relationships that I have some level of control over, intact.  I have come to the conclusion that building, improving, keeping, maintaining, starting and saving relationships is something I will never master – maybe never even be that good at.  Do I try?  Of course I do.  But playing the guitar is easier.  Delivering a speech, preaching a sermon, writing a post on a blog, fixing a computer – well you get the picture – it’s all so much easier. I am so thankful for the relationships that I currently have, but I am not naïve enough to believe that I will have them all when I leave this earth.  Part of the value system of my little church is to help us all learn to love each other better, love God better, and truly love ourselves… better.  I believe that as long as I live, I will forever be an avid student on this subject.  I am so glad that I am not alone in this endeavor.