Have you ever listened to someone share future plans and then say, "It's not written in stone"? We have all had plans like that. We never know what will take place to change our plans. We might discover a more attractive alternative. We may find a less expensive option. We may just lose interest. Then what was so exciting is suddenly forgotten.
While that scenario is acceptable for personal plans and activities, it is destructive to personal relationships. A story tells of two friends who got into an argument. When one slapped the other, the person who was slapped wrote in the sand, "My friend slapped me today." Later that same person fell into some quicksand and was rescued by his friend. The rescued person wrote in stone this time, "My friend saved my life today." When asked why he wrote in sand one time and then in stone the other, he said, "When someone hurts us we should write it in sand, but when they help us we should write it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."
That is good advice for maintaining a relationship. The storms that put pressure on friends, spouses, families, church members and other relationships should serve to bring us closer together rather than driving us apart. They will if the right things are written in stone.
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