Relationships Part I

       Relationships are the things that we all struggle with at least at some point in our lives. We struggle to make friends sometimes, we struggle to not create enemies, we struggle to keep our partners happy etc. The number one thing required for a good relationship is the willingness and I'll even say eagerness  of both people to be in that relationship. I've seen many cases where a relationship was made by one person working triple over time for the relationship, and the other person on cruise control. While this may work for a time, this will not survive long term, matter of fact I'll go as far to say, it will not survive the first few tests of the relationship. A relationship that is based on this will completely exhaust the person trying so hard to a point to where that person no longer cares. The dangerous thing about this type of relationship is that once that point is reached, there is almost no turning back. This is the point where nothing you say or do will make any difference because they have reached their limit. A relationship is much like a battery in the effect that if you use it too much without recharging it, soon it will be dead.  It is important that one must take the steps occasionally to recharge it. If you leave the battery dead too long, it will soon be worthless and unable to recharge. A perfect relationship actually has no one party making the most effort. A good relationship will have two people equally pulling the same direction for a common goal. Any time you have two of anything working together, you accomplish at least 3 times more work than if you had just one. Not only do you have the effort of those two people but, you also have the mental support, emotional support, and the desire to not let the other person down. Therefore, at that point, the pair does not even realize that instead of doing 1x the work or even 2x the work, the limit is only set by the desire to succeed. This is important in relationships as much as it is in anything else. The Bible says for us to not be unequally yoked. It's no surprise this analogy was made in our relationships. If two oxen are yoked unequally, they will fight each other to the point of exhaustion and then you have two worthless oxen and a load that hasn't moved. So a couple that are unequally yoked will have the same outcome. They will spend so much time fighting one another that not only will they exhaust themselves and become worthless, they will also not accomplish their goal. If you truly want a meaningful, prosperous relationship, pull with your partner, in the same direction, on the same page, with the same spirit. There will be no valley you can not climb out of and no mountain to tall to overcome.