Relational Inventory, Part 1

Last Thursday morning Laura asked me, “Do you realize how many hours you have spent meeting with people this week? As a matter of fact, do you realize how many hours you have spent with people in the last 24 hours?”

My answer was, “A lot! And I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.”

Last week was great week for me because I got to spend an abundance of quality time with a bunch of great people: Tianne, Bob, Dennis, Jeff, and Ginger. I had a great phone visit with Tricia. And then I got to spend an extended time with “The Sunday Men.”

Just so you understand what I mean by abundance: One meeting was 1.5 hours, a couple were 2 hours, one was 3.5 hours, and one was 4 hours. In each case we could have gone on and on. One outcome of this is that I can never say anything about Laura’s marathon lunches at Celebrity again!

The list doesn’t include the family time at my niece Leasha’s surprise engagement party (It was a surprise to her, but we all knew about it!) or my great-niece’s birthday party.

And of course, the great time Laura and I had with each other all week. The nest is empty and every night is a date night!

I was prompted to reflect on the blessing of these people in my life as I was reading last night in Kenneth Boa’s book “That I May Know God: Pathways to Spiritual Formation.” In a chapter on relational spirituality he reviewed the 5 kinds of people discussed in Gordon McDonald’s book “Restoring Your Spiritual Passion.” Here they are:

VRP: Very Resourceful People. They add to our lives and ignite our passion. These are mentors. They are often older people who are willing to build their experience and wisdom into our lives.

VIP: Very Important People. They share our passion. They love us enough to ask tough questions and keep us honest. They work together with us and share our vision.

VTP: Very Trainable People. They catch our passion. These are the people we are called to invest our lives in.

VNP: Very Nice People. These people enjoy our passion but do not contribute to it.

VDP: Very Draining People. These people sap our passion. They are in constant need of comfort and recognition. If we are not careful, these people can consume our time, our emotional energy and our spiritual passion.

Last week was great week for me because I got to spend an abundance of quality time with a bunch of great people.

I paused and took an inventory of these people. The boundaries of the categories are blurred some, but they were all VRP, VIP, and VTP!

They energize me and ignite my passion.

What a blessing!