WEDNESDAY WEEKLY WORD...something worth cherishing

It is so easy to trade old, worn things in for something new. Take your car for example, when it starts to have trouble, the first thing we do is take it to the mechanic. Sometimes the problem can be fixed, but when the repairs begain to get expensive and it seems like our car is just too worn out to be fixed ... we trade it in. We never trade down either, we always get something that is newer, shinier, and with more bells and whistles.

The problem with our world today is that often times our relationships with each other are often treated just like this. In our marriages. In our friendships. With our places of employment.

When things start getting tough, instead of trying to work things out and fix what seems to be broken - we go for the "trade-in". We get new friends, we get a different job, we get a younger spouse.

Can you imagine if you hurt your hand, and instead of going to the doctor, you just got the sharpest knife you could find and just cut that hurt hand off! How crazy does that sound? But this is exactly what we do when it comes to broken relationships, it is easier for us to sever it than to mend it.

Paul addresses the marriage relationship in the book of Ephesians:

EPHESIANS 5:28,29 "Husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it."

In last week's YOUR OPINION MATTERS POLL, I polled the readers the following question: "What is the one thing that you cherish the most?" The top 3 answers were:

1. 46% of those voting said that they cherish their loving family the most.

2. 38% voted and said that it is their Bible that they cherish.

3. 7% responded and said they cherish something but not sure what.

I am thrilled to see that cherishing our family is number one. But only 46%? What happened to the other 54% ... have they already taken their broken relationship to the local garage and traded it in for something else?

What a difference we could make if we took Paul's advice and cherished the relationships that we have. Not just in our marriages, but can you imagine if we loved people as much as we love ourselves ... what could possibly happen? Cherishing and nourishing could be the perfect tool to fix what seems to be broken!

Our family. Our friends. Our co-workers. Our neighbors. Our church members.
The homeless. The sick. Strangers.

These are people ALL worth cherishing!