{"id":329,"date":"2016-09-22T17:04:25","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T17:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/?p=329"},"modified":"2017-02-25T21:29:20","modified_gmt":"2017-02-25T21:29:20","slug":"bringing-something-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2016\/09\/bringing-something-table.html","title":{"rendered":"Bringing Something to the Table"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/390\/2016\/09\/table-with-food-A.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-727 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/390\/2016\/09\/table-with-food-A.jpg\" alt=\"table with food A\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the most difficult aspects of moving from emotional immaturity to emotional maturity is coming to terms with the fact that in every relationship, you must bring something to the table. In order to have good relationships with your spouse, employer or family members, you have to have something to offer (besides being alive and having a pulse).<\/p>\n<p>It is impossible to have a successful relationship in which you solely take and never give. You can complain all day about how people should \u201caccept\u201d you for who you are, but no one is going to want to deal with you if you don\u2019t do things for other people.\u00a0 For instance, no one is going to want to marry you, or stay married to you, if your major contribution to the marriage is to watch television and eat chips.\u00a0 No employer is going to want to hire you if you are sloppy and unhelpful.\u00a0 Employers (and spouses) want people who are responsible and hard-working and who have a good attitude.<\/p>\n<p>Serving others isn&#8217;t just about being nice. When we serve others, we in turn become successful in all areas of our lives.\u00a0 Couples who serve each other have happier marriages.\u00a0 People who are good at serving others are better employees.\u00a0 They have more friends.\u00a0 And they have better relationships with their children and families.<\/p>\n<p>If a certain relationship in your life isn\u2019t going as planned, ask yourself this, \u201cWhat am I bringing to the table? Am I helpful?\u00a0 Or am I spending most of my time thinking about all the things that person should be doing for me?\u201d\u00a0 If your job situation isn\u2019t going well, ask yourself, \u201cAm I giving my job my best effort?\u00a0 Do I go in every day with a good attitude?\u00a0 Or do I put a sour look on my face if someone asks me to do something outside of my job description?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even our relationship with God requires us to offer ourselves up in service. Yes, God loves you unconditionally.\u00a0 There is nothing you can do that will make God reject you.\u00a0 However, if you want to have a good relationship with God, you need to do your part.\u00a0 You need to communicate with Him through prayer.\u00a0 You need to seek His guidance in all things.\u00a0 And you need to be willing to give your life up in service to Him.<\/p>\n<p>This week, consider what it is that <em>you<\/em> are bringing to the table in your relationships.\u00a0 Are you being helpful when a family member is overwhelmed?\u00a0 Are you giving your job your best effort?\u00a0 Are you spending a portion of each day doing things to serve others, or is your time mainly spent serving your own needs?\u00a0 Then spend some time thinking about the ways that you can boost your service quotient.\u00a0\u00a0It\u00a0will be time well spent.<\/p>\n<p>(Photo Courtesy of Pexels)<\/p>\n<p>Follow me at https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most difficult aspects of moving from emotional immaturity to emotional maturity is coming to terms with the fact that in every relationship, you must bring something to the table. In order to have good relationships with your spouse, employer or family members, you have to have something to offer (besides being alive&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[46],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-serving-others"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bringing Something to the Table - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2016\/09\/bringing-something-table.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bringing Something to the Table - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the most difficult aspects of moving from emotional immaturity to emotional maturity is coming to terms with the fact that in every relationship, you must bring something to the table. In order to have good relationships with your spouse, employer or family members, you have to have something to offer (besides being alive&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2016\/09\/bringing-something-table.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Your Morning Cup of Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-22T17:04:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-25T21:29:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/files\/2016\/09\/table-with-food-A.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Meerabelle Dey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bringing Something to the Table - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2016\/09\/bringing-something-table.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bringing Something to the Table - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration","og_description":"One of the most difficult aspects of moving from emotional immaturity to emotional maturity is coming to terms with the fact that in every relationship, you must bring something to the table. 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