just friends.

recently I've been pondering my thoughts on this brother and sister terms/labels? I've been trying to figure out what exactly this 'label' means in my life and why its established in the first place. I am starting to think that in certain relationships its easier to define a person as your brother or sister right in the beginning in order to make the relationship safe and guarding that persons heart from any potential heartbreak or conversations known as the a "DTR" (defining the relationship)

I am not saying that its OK to give your heart away or have a questionable relationship with the opposite sex but what i am saying is what happened to just being friends? We all know were "brothers and sisters" in Christ and if we feel as if we need to define the relationship with a label of a brother and sister to restrict any feelings outside of this 'brother & sister' guidelines? then I feel as if we are living out the guidelines of genuine relationship.

Because if we know the person where engaging in these relationships with we should know the persons story/testimony and in knowing that persons story we know how to love that person in the most appropriate way and know their "needs" in a relationship.

soo... if that person grew up with an absent father or brother relationship then the desire of their heart is probably longing for a brother

if that person grew up without the affirmation of being beautiful, valued and loved then the words of a man will be treasured when they are spoken even if they were just spoken out of a 'friend' context.

the examples could go on and on...so my conclusion to all these thoughts?

that in knowing a persons story you learn the persons needs and any brokenness that is going on in their heart. The challenge to my self is to dig deeper in the relationships I have and get to know the heart and stories of the people and get over these 'surface-y' relationships. Its easy to slap a label on something and make it safe but its harder to invest in a relationship.

A quote in which Jim Anderson states in one of his books that I also think sums all this up reads like this:

"Fathers fill the hearts of their daughters with words of love, pure touch of love, and eyes of love. words of love are like honey to a daughters heart. words go straight into the heart of a women"

Our words followed by action are more powerful then we think.