In the past I've complained about relationships—both intimate relationships and other relationships—not giving me what I wanted. The question was always: Is this the right person for me? Are they giving me what I want? Are they behaving themselves?
I was operating with the wrong image: I thought the universe was supposed to deliver people up to me like finished paintings. Instead, when a person comes into my life, the universe hands me an endlessly expanding blank sheet of paper, on which I am supposed to draw or paint what God wants me to create. Since I am in charge of what goes onto the paper—not the other person—I am in charge of the outcome. If the outcome is guided by Love and by God, it will be good; if it is guided by self, it will not be.
But be certain of this: the other person can make no mark on the paper. My experience of the relationship is entirely my affair, because everything that happens has only the meaning I give it.
Relationships are therefore not products but opportunities.
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