"people, People, PEOPLE!"

As i talked on Skype with a friend, I noticed he had put this expession "people, People PEOPLE!" on his comment line. Didn't ask him about it, but it triggered some thoughts in my mind, in no less than three directions.

My first thought was just expressing his frustration with the way people think and act. Well, there's alot I could say here. People I have trusted have abused my trust. People who were supposed to be credible and of "high regard" have lied and decieved for their own profit. Other people I call friends have allowed their standards and ethics to be compromised under pressure.

Next my thoughts were about people themselves, individuals who in God's eyes are more valuable than anything else on this planet. God loves each person, and asks us to love our neighbours as ourselves. Spending time with people and helping them should be one of our highest priorities...

Finally I thought of all the people who have robbed me of time and energy. There are quite a number, and just like everyone else I have limited time. Scripture tells us we can "buy time". How do we do this? And what do we "buy time" for?

Over the weekend I was asked to draw a personal network map of people I communicate with on a regular basis. And as I started listing people, I was reminded of more people and then more and more People! Over 70 individuals i've been in relatively intense contact with within the past year, regarding personal, family or business issues! That's a lot of relationships to manage!

So how are these relationships, and how have they grown? I have to admit, with the exception of a handful they have all become superficial over time. Even relationships that were once heart to heart friendships have now become mere aquaintances. Yet these people are important to me...

We (especially men) have limited capacity of how many people we can relate to at one time in our lives. We struggle between developing relationships and the real danger of overloading our lives with too many friendships to manage, which just consume our energy and time.

So I've decided to buy some time. Time for myself, time to rest and not be consumed, to stand still, not run the rat race, time to reflect and map out the next steps. People are an important part of my life, yet i cannot allow myself to be consumed by too many relationships.

As important as these people may be, I need not fit into all their lives, I just need to fit into mine.