One of the most important parts about living life is those we choose to share it with. Ed Young’s book, Fifty Shades of They shares insight on relationships and how they impact our day-to-day lives and ultimately our future.
As relational beings the ways in which we share our lives and experiences with others matters greatly. We’ve been designed by God to yearn for relationships that enrich us and bring us a sense of joy, love and companionship. We’ve also been called to the battlefield of this world to share and bring those same characteristics in to the lives of others.
Fifty Shades of They works through 50 ways that relationships matter, from the healthy and not so healthy. Understanding the differences between healthy relationships and unhealthy relationships helps us to decide who will have the ultimate influence over the ways in which we decide to live our life.
Ed talks about the “right they”, people who have qualities that make them individuals who will enrich our lives and help keep us honest, faithful and brave when life gets tough and celebrate with us when we have much to be grateful for. Tough, honest, encouraging and yielded, are the four words Ed uses to describe the right “they”.
So why is it important for us to identify who the right “they” are in our lives? We have a choices in life on who will ultimately influence us. We need to be aware of those who we go to for advice. The right “they”, although equally as imperfect as anyone else…will ultimately have our best interest at heart and guide us and encourage us in ways that are healthy and allow us to grow in our faith and as individuals.
Sometimes the right “they”, can help us see a part of ourselves that needs some friendly critiquing. It is easy to find ourselves gravitating toward those who do a great job of making us always feel good about ourselves. We also need people in our lives who aren’t afraid to “caffeinate us”, as Ed puts it, “like shots of espresso, we need people in our lives who wake us up!” It is always humbling to have people in our lives who can offer invaluable advice on ways we can become a better person.
One of my favorite sections from Ed’s book is on page 132 when he says,
“ we do need to be wise about who we let our walls down for; but we all need those people in our lives we can let our guard down for and who we can be one hundred percent open and vulnerable to. We need people we can go to for help and advice. We can’t live every minute of every day acting as if we have it all figured out. We cannot do life all on our own strength and wisdom. We need people with whom we can admit our weaknesses and share our struggles – people who can hold us accountable.”
If understanding the importance of relationships and choosing the right “they” is something you are interested in learning more about I highly recommend taking a look at Ed Young’s book, Fifty Shades of They.
As a matter of fact, we are giving away a copy of the book here on BCW! All you have to do is leave a blog post comment below telling us how you look for the right “they” in your life.
A winner will be announced and contacted via email on Monday June 1. Good luck!
Book Review by Samantha, Managing Editor/BCW
