• The Importance Of Relationships

  Contributed by K. Edward Skidmore on Mar 4, 2009 (message contributor)

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  Scripture:  None

  Tags:  Friendship General

  Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

THE IMPORTANCE OF RELATIONSHIPS

I recently read some interesting statistics that show how IMPORTANT relationships are in our lives. The American Institute of Stress conducted research on 232 patients who had undergone cardiac surgery. Of those patients, 21 died within six months.

Here are two of the significant mortality predictors that they listed: "a lack of participation in social or community groups" and "the absence of strength and comfort from religion."

Author Randy Frazee cites this report as indicating that social activity can predict cardiac mortality as strongly as elevated cholesterol levels. He said the studies show that social isolation contributes to illness and death as much as smoking. Then he gave this humorous advice: "So if you feel you must smoke, for goodness sake, don’t do it alone!"

(Making Room for Life, by Randy Frazee)