THE PURPOSE OF RELATIONSHIP
support, and people with differing skills and abilities that can enhance your life.
My role in your life should now be such that when I meet someone who may need your specific skills or can address what you currently need, I may connect them to you. The bottom line is, I cannot benefit you if we do not connect.
If we stopped here, we could be tempted to think, “Well, we have estab- lished a great connection!” However, this connection only solidifies when this new relationship benefits others—the third reason we connect with others.
3. The relationship benefits others.
When we turn our new connection into a relationship, it is at that moment when we decide to bring our networks together to benefit someone else. It cannot just be for our own mutual gain.
When I expand my network through a connection with you, you may be the person who could assist and help someone that I know. I can become the bridge between your abilities and someone else’s need. This also works very well in reverse.
Or, when we pool our resources together, we can focus our efforts on helping someone outside of our circles of influence that we may not otherwise be able to help. This happens when we reach outside of our own physical bound- aries and dedicate time and effort to serve a need in our community or even around the globe.
The point here is that as we make connections with each other, it should and will work for the benefit of someone else. We were never meant to live only for ourselves. Have you ever wondered why it feels so good to meet a need that someone else has? You know that feeling you get when a smile stretches across the face of someone whose need has been provided for because you and another person worked together to bring it to them? Some organizations are designed for this purpose. Rotary International has the catchphrase, “Service above self.” The idea is that every Rotarian will see the needs of their community and globally work together with other Rotarians to fulfill those needs to make a difference in the world.
There is one more reason to connect with others.
4. The relationship pleases God.
God created us to be in relationship. He meant for us to help each other. We were not designed to be alone, nor to isolate ourselves from the world. We shortchange our own lives and we shortchange the life of someone else when we believe we don’t need others and the world doesn’t need us either.