29/11/2018
The Pillars of a Relationship : Love alone cannot take you there.....
Proverbs 24:3, By Wisdom a house is built, by understanding it is established and by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
Many relationships (marriage, dating, family, academic, occupational, business etc) has fallen in jeopardy because it didn’t have enough pillars to support it. I will rest my concern on marriage and dating relationships which fails mostly because people think love is the only thing required to make it work. Obviously no, but we end being carried away by the euphoric feeling of love and don’t get time to build the other pillars required. First question to ask yourself is why are you or entering into the relationship. If dating, is it for fun and company or it is for marriage and support. If marriage, is it to have a partner you can boast of and have a family with or to help each grow deep and wide in their purpose to dominate their field of impact. This life is no joke so if you have no intentions of doing anything better, you end up doing nothing better. Of course all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy so the purpose should have a window of fun times to allow the ventilating memories of happiness to chip into the relationship.
Know that Love is a choice and not a feeling. To Love someone is a conscious decision you must make. The ‘I love you’ we tell people has now become a sign of expressing what is abounding in our feelings tank and think that’s all. But the I love you is tested when you don’t have the same affection towards your partner and your feelings tank is dry and you have no reason to be with him/her or lets say perhaps what you feel for him/her no longer exist. That time is when you have to show your love in a conscious manner by deciding to still do the things you used to do for your partner; if not all, the key ones and staying in that relationship. “For Better, For Worse”. This is easier said than done that is why you must have some supporting factors that can assist you. These are what I refer to the Pillars of a Relationship:
1.Be committed to each other.
- This simply means let your partner’s matter be your matter. Its straight forward. If they need help, help out. If they are not around, do things you as though they were. Do not cheat because your partner will interpret it as he/she not being enough and that kills self confidence in your partner and of course it affects the trust he/she has for you. And lastly, love what they love and try to be indifferent about what they hate.
2.Understand Each other:
- The Bible says in all your getting, get understanding. How can you understand what you do not know which means you must get to know your partner. Knowing someone is not a one day affair so take time and be observant about the things the take to heart and cherish it as well. Know what tickles them and doesn't. I know how to say sorry in a special way to my sweetheart so anytime it gets hard to say it, I just get her that favorite meal and case closed. Mind you, over time people change so don’t make old knowledge be a forever thing.
3.Admit Each other:
-Admittance is when you give people time to be who they are while changes set in. A person’s Being before you met them is who they were. If you go to the hospital and you are admitted, that means they agree to that condition and are willing to do something about it. Changes is a process but lack of admission will make you want to rip off the negativity, challenges, weakness, shortcomings, ill-attitude etc you see in your partner in a day. So you must Adapt to your partner’s current state, know why they do - what they do - the way they do it. With patience and coping positively influence them to become better and of course to suit your taste. That is why transformation is different from translation.
4.Accept each other:
- Acceptance is you knowing your partner’s purpose, vision, goals, objectives that you wish to help them achieve. Always accept a person for the positive productive and better version of themselves they aspire to be. Acceptance requires commitment to be futile because sometimes your partner may give up and want to quit. You need to be his/her number 1 fan.
5.Get into a business together:
- People are thinking money. Hold your horses and know that a business simply means a solution to a problem. Whether monetized or not, it is still a business once it makes humanity better by solving its problems. So if you are in a business with your partner for the purpose of making money, money will rule the relationship and at the end ruin it. But if it to make other people’s life better, even when love fails, you two know you have a role to play in making other people benefit so you still carry out your roles. Day by day, you two will just happen to be together, doing the thing you both jointly love. Mind you, the business must be something both of you love. So no matter how much love you two don’t have for each other, you two have love for a similar thing and it can keep both of you together through stormy times.
6.Have a common vision:
- This is primary and key to selecting a partner. After checking their attitude, relationship with God, their vision is what to look at. Most couples have different visions such that it is the very reason that might separate them. While it may not, different visions means different direction so once the love fails, both of you don’t travel the same direction in terms of vision and aspirations so therefore, nothing will make you cross paths to have that platform to settle stormy seas before a tsunami comes in to wash away the remains of the relationship.
7.Share and exchange things.
- Of course not underwear but many things are shareable and exchangeable. Most important is whatever can keep both of you apart should be shared and exchanged.
Phones, cars, work, friends, hobbies, family, food, clothes, agenda etc.
Sometimes just exchange without backing up or creating contingency. Just like that; the moment you can trust each other to take care of data, family, friends, work, hobbies, pets, etc you two have a mutual ground and this leads to further understanding of why your partner behaves some way some time. You never know until you try it.
8.Have fun and create memories:
- The hardest things to lose when breaking a relationship is memories. They are that one thing that stirs up all those feelings over and over. If you have enough fun times and put enough on your so called busy schedule, Life becomes worth living and the relationship makes more sense. This makes you discover so many things about your partner and so many sides you never knew existed. Have fun anyway anyhow but please be careful when trying out immoral activities. Some fun will only break you up at the end.
9.Lastly, Be A Friend.
- It feels good to have a shoulder you can cry on and someone who can give you strength. Just as you want it, do it for your partner. Be their strength,their cheer, they motivator, gossip partner, fun partner, and everything he/she often seeks out for in a friend. If friendship is established, the love becomes easy to choose when that feeling is not there anymore.
Now I will define what a relationship is, I saved the best for last.
A relationship is one heck of a difficult task of meeting someone, establishing a cordiality, figuring them out and fighting all and I mean all the hurdles and tough times that comes your way and at the end, being a blessing to others. So if you think it was meant to be fun and easy, you just didn’t know this definition until now.
Good luck and Safe Trip on your Journey to be your partner’s special one.