Not long ago, Someone I respect very highly commented that she did not have a relationship with God. She believed in God, she practiced her faith assiduously, but did not believe she had a relationship with God. In a way, this surprised me; but in another way it did not. Because I am not at all sure what people mean when they speak of a relationship with God. I have known people who said that they had an experience with God, but an experience is not a relationship.

You know all too well that when God is out of sight he is out of mind, and believing that he listens requires an element of faith. And we know that some relationships are closer than others. Just how close do you have to be to call it a relationship? And is the relationship horizontal, as between friends; or is it vertical, as between master and servant? And maybe this is where some of us come up short. We believe in God, we even practice our faith, but we have stopped short of relationship.