“We need relational nutrients daily and over a lifetime, and not as once in a while events.”

A thought by John Townsend from his book, People Fuel (p. 72). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Right before this John said, “I use the term relational nutrients to drive home the reality that these aren’t things you can make up in your head. They come from the outside of you, from the right kinds of relationships, from people who can dispense them to you. The different aspects of grace and truth—which is another, broader way of describing the nutrients—provided over time, come from our relationships with God and with people. That is why the horizontal… is so important. Remember that God created a system in which the vertical is not enough for us. He designed us to be fueled by his Spirit, his Word, and his people. When we truly become what I call relationally oriented, rather than self-sufficient, everything changes for the better.”

And we need that to be true, don’t we?

He goes on, “We can’t ‘do the relationship thing’ and have it over with, as with vaccinations that can last many years. It doesn’t work that way. God did not intend for us to connect at deep and vulnerable levels at a weekend retreat and then go back to our regular lives. We need to experience and ingest the nutrients over time, over and over again, to stay healthy and productive.

“Think about the last time you had a bacterial infection. The physician probably prescribed a packet of antibiotics. The regimen was that you would need to take a pill or two every day for a few days. That is what works. But if you were a very busy person, you might become impatient and just take the whole packet on day one.

“You would save time, but you would probably overdose and get sicker. You would not have given your body a chance to absorb the ingredients into your bloodstream over time. That is how we are healed. We take that pill or two. The body metabolizes them and uses them to fight the infection. But since there is more infection to deal with, you supply the body with another pill the next day.”

He then says, “We need to ingest the helpful substances in certain amounts, at certain times, not all at once. And the same is true in the personal and relational world.”

It is so very important, isn’t it? 

Yes, yes!