In 1939, Harvard began one of the longest and most complete studies of adult life ever conducted. It spanned 75-years and at its conclusion in 2014, identified the greatest predictor of happiness and fulfillment in life to be the quality of one’s relationships.
“It’s not just the number of friends you have, and it’s not whether or not you’re in a committed relationship. It’s the quality of your close relationships that matters.” – Psychiatrist Robert Waldinger – Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development
So it doesn’t matter whether you have a huge group of friends and go out every weekend or if you’re in a “perfect” romantic relationship (as if those even exist). What matters is the quality of the relationships – how much vulnerability and depth exists within them; how safe you feel sharing with one another; and the extent to which you can relax and be seen for who you truly are, and truly see another.
A great life is built on great relationships!
When the Bible talks about friendship, it refers to it in the sense of a covenant. When a covenant was made between individuals, it was a mutually binding agreement, a promise that was not to be broken and one that would last for generations. It is within covenantal friendships that we find our tribe! God refers to Abraham, Moses, and even the disciples as His friends … His tribe. They are his friends not because he likes them, or is even like them, but because He made a covenant with them. When we have that kind of friendship, we have then found our tribe.
To make everything better in life, we have to find our tribe.
Why? Ultimately, who is in your life is more important than what you are doing in your life. This is why we must think alignment and not assignment. Too often we go through life and we miss the seriousness of relationships. Not just our marriages, but our friendships. This has become reversed in modern society. Most of us are after the right assignments (i.e., the next promotion), not the right alignments. But God spends more time talking about the kind of people we are with than what we are doing.
So how do you find your tribe?
Prioritize your alignments over your assignments … seek to develop quality relationships with people who share your heart, your path, and will be there for you when you need them!
From the, Into Me See series message entitled, “One Thing That Makes Everything Better, Part 3.” To see the full message, click here.
For additional personal growth and development resources, click here.
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