Who are your Eleven?

“The real meaning of life is not a journey question or an arrival question.  It’s a relationship question.  Your journey and your destination are both important, but neither is possible without an answer to this prior question:  Who are you taking with you on the journey toward your destination?”  

In the book, 11, by Leonard Sweet,  he proposes that for optimum personal health we need 11 different companions for life’s journey.  Drawing from qualities of 11 Biblical characters, he encourages the reader to participate in relationships that reflect different aspects of these Biblical figures.  Do you have a true friend, an encourager and a Yoda in your life - a Jonathan, Barnabas, and Paul?  Do you have a butt-kicker, an editor, a reject in your life - a Jethro, Nathan, and Zacchaeus?    As we take note and honor them for their differences, we grow as a person.

In contrast, I think many of us tend to gravitate toward friendships with people who are like-minded or share common interests - people who make us feel comfortable.  Likewise, we may not consider the need to be a different kind of friend to others.  Yet, when we engage in authentic relationships, we participate in something that is far greater than than our own ability to affect another person.  We are  participating in the fabric that unites us all as God's creation.  Sweet challenges us to consider naming and nurturing relationships with very different sorts of people.  “in a world beset by chance and change, your 11 need to be as diverse as you can make and take them, with varied experiences, attitudes, politics, even theologies.  Your 11 are people to help you be creative, not merely to help you implement your creativity... You aren’t strongest when alone; you’re strongest when together...The most important thing is not to try to go it alone.”

It has been interesting to contemplate the attributes of people and consider attending to certain relationships differently because of the roles people play in my life or I might play in theirs.  Further, a goal for my sabbatical has been to consider what would make an interesting series of meditations for the communion services that I lead each month in a variety of facilities.  I am looking forward to exploring with some of our senior adults the “11” in their lives.