In Matthew 6:24 Jesus says, “no one can serve two masters for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. The question for me is what Master do you serve?

My take on the question of who is our Master, is defined by how consumed we can become on one area of our life, that we ignore what else is going on in the world around us. So how do we address this situation?

I believe we can keep our lives centred by trying to do God’s will and through living according to the Gospel values. This I would argue begins and ends with relationships. Hence, the following questions:

Is there a fine balance between my relationships with my family, friendships and work colleagues?

Am I providing a listening ear, making time for quality interactions and being a presence in their lives?

What if I am not abiding by these two main features?

These are the three major questions that enable me to measure effective relationships and I should work on mastering. Contrastingly, if I am not fulfilling the questions successfully then it causes me to ponder where do my attentions lie?

When I think about my relationships my first priority is to reflect on my communication and my interactions with others. I like to think I greet people warmly and diffuse challenging situations by talking quietly and asking questions to seek clarity to resolve the issues. This I believe builds trust the cornerstone to any relationship.

The next feature of any relationship is listening to others and allowing them to talk through their concerns. I believe people when faced with problems they can’t find a solution to like to discuss their position, explore possible options and receive feedback from others. Thus, I gain an understanding on the feelings and thoughts of others and how they react to different conditions.

The final feature is what if I am not fulfilling the first two features in my determination to build relationships and my concentration is on what serves my own purposes?   Then I am actually serving two masters, one that satisfies my own needs rather than assisting others. I find that when I do this, I lose all perspective of what is going on around me and become isolated.  For it is only through my relationships with others that I reach the full potential of who I am which enables to serve my Master, God.