Long before the social media era, when email was the only means of communication, someone forwarded this note to me and the message stuck with me. The link to this message is – https://www.nannet.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Reason-season-lifetime.pdf.
Here’s the screenshot –
Its a beautiful message … some people come into your life for a reason, some for a season and some others for a lifetime. Many of us never learn this truth early in life and suffer when someone leaves our life after giving us a lesson or turning our life in a better direction. Nothing else can explain, why certain friendships continue for a long time and suddenly something happens and while you don’t have a fight or disagreement, it just fizzles out. A statement by a dear friend upset me so much that I wanted to never speak to her again – maybe her part in my life was coming to an end. I struggle a great deal with letting go of relationships…. so I pulled this message out and read it a few times.
Nothing else explains why suddenly a cousin of mine and I became fast friends when we had hardly interacted in 47 years !! Even at work.. the person you think of as a friend turns out to be your nemesis, or some colleague becomes a friend for a lifetime, or some friend introduces you to an acquaintance of theirs and your friend is no longer as close as the acquaintance !
We also mistakenly invest in a relationship assuming its for a lifetime, ignoring all the red flags that stare you in the face, when that person is actually there for a reason and will be gone in an instant. A dear nephew of mine went through a “ghosting” experience …. precisely a case of mistaken-identity of the person involved, not realising she was there for a reason and not a lifetime. This applies to parents, siblings, co-workers, friends, relatives … pretty much every human being that touches you in a given lifetime. Some children lose their parent(s) early in life – that was probably because they were just to be the reason for you to be born. Likewise, children passing on when they are young .. they were there for a season, to teach you something, to touch your lives in a positive way and to leave their imprint in your life.
While Karma explains why we have certain experiences, this message is helpful in dealing with those experiences related to relationships with others.
Let go … knowing fully well, if that person is for a lifetime, he/she will be right back and if it was just for a reason or season, then just let go, with gratitude and thanks.