Are You a Priority or an Option?

When I first read these words, I thought, “Ouch!” How hard it is to realize there is a disconnect between two people, let alone one that is so vast. Making someone a priority means they are important enough that other things fall to the wayside. When someone is an option they are usually the thing that falls to the wayside. It makes it even worse when you see them as a priority and to them you are only an option.

We’ve all been in this situation, where there is a disconnect between what we think and what the other person thinks. If the topic comes up in a discussion the other person usually has the right words to say to make things better, however it is their actions that truly demonstrate what they think. It is when they make you a priority in their life, their schedule, their actions that things reach a level of equality.

Then there are the relationships where the other person has you as a priority and you have them as an option. Not sure how that happens, two people at different need levels at the same time trying to make something work. Be it a friendship, a romance, a colleague or a community need, it can be challenging to find people who are at the same level of caring at the same time. When it happens, lives are changed. When it doesn’t happen lives can be hurt without even realizing it.

For this to work it takes time to inventory who in your life is a priority and who is an option? And vice versa, in whose life are you a priority or an option? If you are able to have at least one person in your world that is a priority – someone who you could call at 3am to come get you if your car breaks down – THAT is a true blessing. Take time today to count your blessings and let that person know that they are a priority in your life.