The Search for a Lasting Relationship

    Have you found it sad, frustrating, and impossible to find an acceptable relationship? A relationship that is healthy, growing in maturity, and not weird or hurtful. Desiring a good relationship is simply a reasonable expectation. A need. However, one is not easy to find.

    Striving for a perfect relationship is not wrong. Jon Bowers said in his TED Talk (Nov 2017) that we must strive for perfection in all that we do and not be satisfied with just good enough. There is danger in accepting anything less. I have experienced this first hand. Though the tread marks are fading and the stab wounds healed.

    No, this does not mean that we won't make mistakes. It happens. But rather that we must always learn from them. For these become the stepping stones of continued growth and maturity. Out of this, we can decide what is it that we truly want and deserve out of a relationship.

    I envy the relationships of some of my friends where the two individuals can maintain their separate identities and yet can also grow together, supportive and encouraging of one another. It touches my heart to feel the mutual respect and loving atmosphere that surrounds them. 

    Consideration of others is important in all of our decisions and actions. There is a responsibility toward others, which ultimately leads to our own satisfaction and happiness in this life. (see, 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NASB) "encourage one another and build one another up".) This should be seen in our relationships and our everyday living. 

    However, sometimes setting a good example is not always good enough. We might need to develop the self-confidence to share with others, declare even, what constitutes acceptable and worthwhile behavior within relationships. (see, Romans 12:2 (NASB) "do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.")

    We owe it to ourselves and to the people around us the protection and guidance in finding and nurturing that perfect relationship. A life worth living and sharing with another. To hear those glorifying words from God at the new beginning, "Well done, my child. Well done."



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