Great Relationships Don't Just Happen
It’s easy to let relationships slide. One day, we’ll be a better parent or friend. One day, we’ll figure out the whole God thing. One day, we’ll give to those in need. One day, we’ll mentor others. One day...
Great relationships are forged through the fires of adversity, joys of pleasure, and the consistent mundane. Each of these three realities reveals the strengths and weaknesses of a relationship that might exist. Adversity tests endurance, joy shows connection, and the consistent mundane demonstrates character.
A relationship solely structured on hardship or joy might falter when the central cause of that relationship is removed. Relationships built around a sport, hobby, or medical crisis are often seasonal. And relationships established on the basics of life might snap under the weight of hardship or extended seasons of pleasure.
Great relationships have a healthy dose of adversity, joy, and the mundane. This is why few relationships are as strong as those forged between two lovers. People who know us when we are at our best, at our worst, and just our average selves. Those who know us well do not believe the hype when others puff us up, but they’ve got our backs when people kick us to the curb.
In the words of Mark Batterson, “Success is living life with such authentic integrity that those who know me best actually respect me most.”[1]
For the Christian, the essence of hell is life without meaningful relationships. This is what it means to die a spiritual death. In Being as Communion, John Zizioulas offers this profound, albeit technical, statement.
“Death for a person means ceasing to love and to be loved, ceasing to be unique and unrepeatable, whereas life for the person means the survival of the uniqueness of its hypostasis, which is affirmed and maintained by love.”[2]
When we cease to have meaningful relationships in our lives, a sort of internal death occurs. Like the body deprived of water and food, the soul deprived of meaningful relationships will cease to exist.
So, what's the key to developing meaningful relationships?
