Relationships of any kind can be incredibly rewarding and equally challenging. One thing that really robs us of good relationships is unrealistic expectations, especially those that we have absorbed from the movies! We watch beautiful romantic stories at the cinema and hope for something similar or watch a sitcom like Friends and wish we could have such fun friendship circles. But truth be told, the relationships both personal and professional that we see on our screens are for entertainment purposes and shouldn't build our definition and expectation of the relationships that we hope to have in real life.
Our society is very much accustomed to getting things quickly and instantly these days. 3-minute microwave meals, instant text messaging and an entire life story in a 90-minute movie. I can't help but wonder if we expect our relationships to be perfect instantly and when they are not we give up and move onto the next one.
A relationship is not a destination but a journey.
We want the finished product but God gives us the raw materials to build with. He didn't give us chairs and tables, he gave us trees! He didn't give us clothes he gave us cotton, leather, wool, and silk. He also didn't give us trees fully grown or children as adults, it all starts smalls and grows from a tiny seed. So why do we expect a relationship to be fully grown and fully formed when it starts - that goes against everything we know about how God does things.
God gives us the opportunity to grow a relationship and to work on it until it's fully formed. It can be a rewarding and exciting journey as people come together with this understand and mindset. They agree to be patient with each other as they get to know each other and help bring out the best in each other. When one shows weakness or lack of character the other can point it out lovingly or gentle cover it and allow God to highlight it in His time.
Imagine how beautiful the world would be if we had realistic expectations of our relationships and went into them with a commitment to grow the relationship from seed form to maturity.
Would you join me in building quality relationships as best we can? One of the things we like to do to build our family relationship is play games - families that play together stay together! What do you enjoy doing to get to know people and build relationships? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas so we can all learn and grow together :) Building quality relationships take time so enjoy the journey.
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