Real Life Real Faith Wisdom for Everyday Life May/June Issue | Page 22

Investing Better Friendships in Your Relationships
“For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His son while we
were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His son”.
by Alvin C. Romer
The scripture quoted above by the Apostle Paul is assurance that having begun a
life with Christ, you have a reservation of power and love to call on each day for help to
meet every challenge you face, but only if you’re able to bank on better checks and
balances. Making better choices are key for circles of influence in forging good
friendships as you relate to your peers, families, and other associates. The gist of this
essay has more to do with analogies alluding to banking illustrating points of contention.
As you read, there will be references to several banking terms and situations in how you
would want your relationships to thrive by investing goodwill making heartfelt deposits
for trust to generate approval rates. The term 'account' will be used intermittedly
throughout this piece that will be definitive of giving credence to it making reference to a
friend singularly, and friendship generically.I offer this to you as a reminder of how you
can utilize simple procedures to foster goodwill. Speaking of goodwill, witness for
instance, Jesus dining with Mathew’s family and associates; John the Baptist pointing
his followers to the Savior; Phillip introducing his friend Nathaniel to Jesus…and what
about David’s relationship with Jonathan? All of these associations had profound
emphasis on depositing initiatives, expecting the proper withdrawals, and making sure
nothing is overdrawn. In other words, you’re going to have to check yourself pertaining
to whom you influence and who's inflencing YOU. Thus, it’s my opinion that our ultimate
destination should be to inform and impose how you’d invest into what's relative in our
approach to the aforementioned. You may ask yourself, how indeed can any of this
happen? Good question!
Everywhere you go, it's my opinion that you should strive to make relational deposits
into people’s lives, encourage them along the way, build their self-esteem and help
them to feel better about themselves. Granted, sometimes it can be difficult because
there are no two people alike. Difficult people usually don’t make positive deposits as
they are too busy making withdrawals. Personally, I had to learn the hard way…I was
out of control and couldn’t keep any lasting friendships. I had to buy into the aspect of
establishing ‘emotional bank accounts’. Eventually what worked for me over time was
having an account with every person with whom I had a relationship with – whether
family members, business associates, friends, even those whom I met at random. I was
either making a deposit or making a withdrawal from those accounts. I made good
deposits. There’s certain policies and procedures for making meaningful deposits: it can
be as simple as taking time smiling or nodding in appreciative gestures, giving
complements when they are due, shaking someone’s hand, or just saying good
morning, etc. Going out of your way to make people feel that you care about them with
good mannerisms can elicit reciprocal acceptance. Those acts of kindness generate
deposits building trust and respect. On the other hand, does this mean that you are
overlooking faults? Absolutely! Your stocks rise significantly on scales of those on the
other end of your affection. I remember over the years the many people I’ve
encountered that I was able to invite into my circle of influence…some of which are still