HOW to STRENGTHEN RELATIONSHIPS

How to  STRENGTHEN RELATIONSHIPS

––Bill Wynchuk

Building a strong connection with someone requires that that person listens and talks with the other person frequently. Common sense you say? Bill Wynchuk in the novel, Baggage burdens. would agree. Through his work as a human resource officer for a construction firm, he created strong bonds between employer and employee by frequently meeting with the workers. His willingness to listen and talk to people struggling with private problems at the Carson Wellness Center made him a valuable counselor. The personal connections he made enabled him to suggest plans of action for them. Bill’s work has shown him that because of some traumatic past event a person may find it too difficult to talk with certain people. Such a challenge presents itself in Jill, a good friend of his. How do you over come such a stumbling block? Bill credits his successes in overcoming such problems to praying and listening to God.

Bill, as a human resource officer

“Thank you. Now can we change topics?” Jill pulls her hands back.

The pleading look in Jill’s eyes causes Bill to laugh. “Certainly. What would you like to talk about?”

“Why you went to Saskatoon?”

“Saskatoon?”

“I saw the label on the pouch in your study?” Jill holds her glass out for more wine.

“To speak at a conference. I told you that.”

“What’s so new about your message that the Chamber of Commerce wants you to address their members?

“I’m not sure what I have to say is so new as it is to reaffirm what they already know. I provided a few studies to give them confidence that my claims are based on scientific evidence as well as practical experience.”

Through Jill’s encouragement Bill describes the work he did as personnel manager with his former employer. The key principal of his presentation was personnel managers need to be out of their office connecting with people in the company. By talking to them about their home life and work, businessmen demonstrate an interest in their worker’s welfare. Involving the company in solving workers’ problems like addictions earns the staff’s good will. At times it means the company’s decision makers participate in the worker’s social functions. The success reported by his company proves his ideas work.

“I think employers really appreciated the effect of diminishing interest in unions.” Bill chuckles with the last conclusion.

Bill, as a counselor

“Preparing meals at the Wellness Centre helped. It filled my day, especially in the winter. Come spring I returned to serving the drop ins who came in the afternoon. Listening to their concerns and suggesting alternate solutions came naturally to me.”

Bill catches Jill’s pronoun, “we” but chooses to deal with the implication of living in Brampton. “I have my garden in Camrose.”

Jill misses a note of concern in Bill’s voice. “Is one garden much different than another?”

“Mine is. My snapdragon is the young guy upgrading his science mark so he can register for the pipefitting course. My rose is the single mother on her last year of training to be a hairdresser. My chess playing teen is an ivy geranium needing fertilizer to bloom.”

As Bill lists clients from the Wellness Center, Jill recognizes stories that Bill has shared with her before.

“I look forward to seeing them succeed. It’s like helping a kid learn how to ride a bike. Once they get the hang of their particular skill they take off like a bird. At that point I feel like I’m soaring with them. Those are my flowers. Their successes are my flowers’ blossoms.”

“Sounds like you’re tending the Lord’s garden. He blessed you with the skill of empathizing and helping and you are using that talent to care for his people. I understand.”

  

                      Bill, a man of faith

“Jill, you really have to work on that trust. Believe me when I say I know you can do it.”

“But I don’t want to blow it.”

“Do you want help?”

“You can’t tell me what to say. It has to come from me.”

“You’re right, but I know how I can help you come up with the right words.”

“How?”

“Pray.”

“Pray?”

“Yes. Pray. I’ll ask God to lead you in your talk with Daniel.”

“I don’t know.”

 “You sound like Moses when he said to the Lord that he didn’t have the ability to speak to pharaoh. Remember. God gave him the ability he needed.”

 “That’s in the Bible. That’s a long time ago.”

 “You don’t think it happens today?”

 “Not to my knowledge. I’ve never heard anyone claim that God inspired them to say anything of value.”

 “Then hear it now. Many times in talking with clients at the Wellness Center and even when I was the personnel manager I’ve said things I never thought of. Some times I said things in ways I wouldn’t have imagined. I’ve given thanks to the Lord for opening my eyes, or rather opening my mouth at the right time and saying the right things. Believe me, it pays to ask for the Lord’s guidance in uncertain times.”

Bill speaks with such confidence that Jill refrains from challenging him.

haiku capsules:

                                  a listening ear                                     striving snapdragon

                          keen enquiring interest                      fertilized geranium

                          lasting friendships                              all are God’s children

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