A Reason, a Season, or a Lifetime

I recently had the experience of someone entering my life and making a huge impact on me; this person didn’t stay in my life for very long, but I know they touched my soul in a significant way. The day after they left, I felt like my world had changed for ever … and consequently, that I had too. It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation; quite the opposite in fact. I felt a sense of privilege at having shared some of my life and my self with this person and an ever greater sense of privilege at knowing how deeply they had touched me. Chances are, I’ll never see this individual again, but I know I’ll never forget them, and I’ve since experienced a real deep sense of inner peace knowing that they were ‘meant’ to enter, and leave, my life exactly when, and how, they did.

It’s amazing how some people can come into our lives and touch us deeply … and quite often, they are the people who are there for just a short period of time. Sometimes it’s just a one-off conversation one has with a stranger on a train, in a coffee shop, maybe standing in a queue; but somehow, that brief connection is so timely, so significant, that a life or a person can be changed.

I guess, to a degree, this can be said to be true of the counselling relationship. It may not be a chance encounter and the client has actively sought out the counsellor, but it’s still a unique relationship in which two individuals come together, hopefully for good. And many clients find that their experience of the counselling relationship changes them forever too.

The relationships which we have with everybody who enters our life are significant and each brings with it its own uniqueness. Some are intense and can teach us a lot. Some are easy relationships, some are difficult. Some are brief, others a lifelong. But relationship is what enables us to truly experience ourselves.





I’ve copied the passage below, because it sums up a lot of what I’ve been thinking about recently, in terms of relationships and the people who come, go, and leave, our lives …


"People come into your life for a reason, a season, or
a lifetime. When you figure out which one it is, you
will know what to do for each person.

When someone is in your life for a REASON . . . It is
usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have
come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you
with guidance and support, to aid you physically,
emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a
godsend, and they are! They are there for the reason
you need them to be.

Then, without any wrong doing on your part, or at an
inconvenient time, this person will say or do something
to bring the relationship to an end.

Sometimes they die.
Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.

What we must realise is that our need has been met, our
desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you
sent up has been answered. And now it is time to move on.

When people come into your life for a SEASON . . .
Because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace, or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount
of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons; things
you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional
foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the
person, and put what you have learned to use in all
other relationships and areas of your life. It is said
that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant."

Author Unknown