I'm sure you've heard the saying, 'respect is reciprocal'. You hadn't? Well, you just did. However, I'm not here to talk about respect.
So, I've discovered it isn't only respect that's reciprocal. Love is. As you may well know unrequited love is hopeless. The lyrics of a particular song come to mind.
Oh how I love Jesus(3ce)
Because He first loved me
You see, as powerful and selfless God's love for us is, it isn't totally unrequited. I speak for myself. I definitely love Him back.
Let's also look at trust. Trust. Should it and can it be one-sided? My answer is no. If you don't trust me, how do I trust you? 'Ko poss na'.
And this brings me to what I really want to talk about today. Openness, alias sharing. My people, this is also reciprocal. It's like trust. If for whatever reason you do not think you can be open or share with me, now you should not be surprised that I reciprocate your lack of sharing, should you?
See, I understand that we are all different and handle issues differently but hey, it's like I said; openness is reciprocal. We should understand what we do when we play the privacy cum secrecy card. Asides locking out people who genuinely care about you, you hurt the friendship/relationship. What's a relationship without openness?
There have been times when I've wanted to share my challenges with someone close either because I wanted to get some nuggets of wisdom or because I just needed to unburden my heart. You know, just talk with someone that cared. But I couldn't. They had locked me out. They did not want to share their issues with me and so, I couldn't share mine with them. That's not a good place to be in a relationship.
So, the next time you want to go all private with someone close, remember that you may be stopping them from unburdening their heart. Also, remember that you are not the only one with challenges. Think outside the box of self. Think about what the absence of openness and sharing in the relationship does to the other person.
Shalom.
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