Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Cleaning Up!
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Cleaning Up!
Cleaning Up
A colleague of mine shared an interesting and insightful
acronym regarding relationships, particularly regarding responding to the
relationships in your life that have become, for lack of a better term, messy.I love people, I love to be with
people, but involvement in any relationship means that we must make ourselves
more vulnerable, and when that occurs we are at risk of being hurt.Sometimes we get hurt by our own
actions and sometimes we get hurt through the actions of others.When that occurs, relationships become
messy and they require our attention to make the necessary repairs if we expect
the relationship to have a chance to be restored.The acronym that my friend used was CLEAN UP.It’s a good reminder about how to both
restore broken relationships and avoid messiness in the relationships that fill
our life.
C – is for Communication
Most relationships: friendships, partnerships, etc. break
down because of a lack of communication.True feelings get suppressed or things said in love can unintentionally
be harmful but when relationships get off track the worst plan is to stop
communicating.
L – is for Listening
Along with good communication we also need to stop and
listen.Scripture tells us to be
quick to listen and slow to speak.This is very good advice.If we really listen, many conflicts and misunderstandings can be
corrected that were often caused by not listening in the first place.But don’t kid yourself, being a good
listener is very hard work.
E – is for Equanimity
It’s interesting what words we can discover when we are
working on an acronym that we like!Equanimity is a call for keeping balance in our relationship.Things like stress can put us out of
balance; in that situation, maintain your poise and don’t make a bad situation
worse.
A – is for Amnesia
Choose to forget when someone wrongs you.Don’t try to get even.If forgiveness is modeled by the Master
teacher, how can we think it is ever the wrong thing for us to do?
N – is for Naps
Rest is important in avoiding situations that could harm a
relationship.A lot of energy is
required to clean up a messy relationship.If you are not ready and rested don’t try to go in and fix
things. Also, slow down.People who are too busy are unable to invest the time and energy needed
in relationships to keep them positive.
U - is for Umbrella
You must shelter yourself from a certain amount of
conflict.There is a time to let
conflict and falsehoods bounce off your protective umbrella.Know what to take on and when not to
take something on directly.
P – is for Power
This refers to the power of prayer.Too frequently our first inclination
when things get difficult is demonstrate our rage.This is really the point at which we need the most self
control.We need the gifts of the
Spirit to keep us from anger, to be the more spiritually mature person and
apologize first.But before you
can do these things you first need to go to the Lord.
When you find yourself dealing with a difficult and messy
situation or relationship I would encourage you to just think about you how
might want to go about cleaning that mess up.When you do, remember this little guide.I think it might help.
View all episodes
Cleaning Up
A colleague of mine shared an interesting and insightful
acronym regarding relationships, particularly regarding responding to the
relationships in your life that have become, for lack of a better term, messy.I love people, I love to be with
people, but involvement in any relationship means that we must make ourselves
more vulnerable, and when that occurs we are at risk of being hurt.Sometimes we get hurt by our own
actions and sometimes we get hurt through the actions of others.When that occurs, relationships become
messy and they require our attention to make the necessary repairs if we expect
the relationship to have a chance to be restored.The acronym that my friend used was CLEAN UP.It’s a good reminder about how to both
restore broken relationships and avoid messiness in the relationships that fill
our life.
C – is for Communication
Most relationships: friendships, partnerships, etc. break
down because of a lack of communication.True feelings get suppressed or things said in love can unintentionally
be harmful but when relationships get off track the worst plan is to stop
communicating.
L – is for Listening
Along with good communication we also need to stop and
listen.Scripture tells us to be
quick to listen and slow to speak.This is very good advice.If we really listen, many conflicts and misunderstandings can be
corrected that were often caused by not listening in the first place.But don’t kid yourself, being a good
listener is very hard work.
E – is for Equanimity
It’s interesting what words we can discover when we are
working on an acronym that we like!Equanimity is a call for keeping balance in our relationship.Things like stress can put us out of
balance; in that situation, maintain your poise and don’t make a bad situation
worse.
A – is for Amnesia
Choose to forget when someone wrongs you.Don’t try to get even.If forgiveness is modeled by the Master
teacher, how can we think it is ever the wrong thing for us to do?
N – is for Naps
Rest is important in avoiding situations that could harm a
relationship.A lot of energy is
required to clean up a messy relationship.If you are not ready and rested don’t try to go in and fix
things. Also, slow down.People who are too busy are unable to invest the time and energy needed
in relationships to keep them positive.
U - is for Umbrella
You must shelter yourself from a certain amount of
conflict.There is a time to let
conflict and falsehoods bounce off your protective umbrella.Know what to take on and when not to
take something on directly.
P – is for Power
This refers to the power of prayer.Too frequently our first inclination
when things get difficult is demonstrate our rage.This is really the point at which we need the most self
control.We need the gifts of the
Spirit to keep us from anger, to be the more spiritually mature person and
apologize first.But before you
can do these things you first need to go to the Lord.
When you find yourself dealing with a difficult and messy
situation or relationship I would encourage you to just think about you how
might want to go about cleaning that mess up.When you do, remember this little guide.I think it might help.