Gary Blair: Water Cooler Convos

Relationships are hard. What did that look mean? Can they be trusted? What are my boss’s intentions really? Why am I so easily offended by her? Why am I so good at offending him? Is anyone really what they seem? What if everyone is actually an alien inside a realistic human suit and I’m the only normal one? These are common questions that many of us ask. 

Even when we have lots in common relationships are a high stakes game with no guarantees, but God also created us male and female, and uniquely different, which adds even more beautiful complexity. In our next series we’re going to investigate some of the things that God has said about how relationships of all descriptions can thrive because we all know we need some help.

You know the spot at work where the gossip always happens, but do we know why it happens? Conflict and judgements are far easier to discuss with just about anyone other than the person in question. That’s because we’re all either fighters or flighters, we bully or get bull-dozed, so we avoid the very person we should be talking to! Can two people disagree and remain convinced that both of them matter just as much? Can honour and honesty co-exist? If we all learned the gracious assertiveness Jesus described in one of his lesser known sermons, the water cooler might have to go back to being a place to get a drink!