In a relationship

Yesterday while looking at Facebook I noticed that a young girl that I am friends with changed her status to, "in a relationship."

This girl is only 12 years old. I just had to shake my head. What does a 12 year old even know about being in a relationship?

I can remember I was about that age when I first remember ever hearing that word. I was sitting on a stone wall just outside our front door. I was reading a book. My mom's friend came for a visit and a cup of coffee like she did every afternoon. 

I could hear her and my mom talking but I was reading and not paying attention until the tone of their voices changed and I heard my mom's friend say, "they are having a relationship."

Now I listened, because I had never heard that word before. I knew what it meant to have relatives and what it meant to be related. But what did it mean to have a relationship?

Well just by hearing the rest of the conversation, I picked up that "having a relationship" was not a good thing.

As soon as I could I looked the word up in the dictionary. It said:

Relationship

noun

1 : the state of being related or interrelated <studied the relationship between the variables>

2 : the relation connecting or binding participants in a relationship: as 

a : kinship 

b : a specific instance or type of kinship

3 a : a state of affairs existing between those having relations or dealings <had a good relationship with his family> 

b : a romantic or passionate attachment

And I recognized that my mom's friend was talking about a romantic or passionate attachment.

I also believe that this is also what the young girl was referring to yesterday. And again I wonder what she even knows about being in a relationship. But maybe, just maybe she is referring to "a type of kinship."

As a Christian the Bible tells me this:

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:16, 17 NASB)

I am a child (relative) of God. I am His heir (relative.) I am a joint heir (relative) of Christ. I have a connecting and binding kinship with God and God's Son.

I am "in a relationship."