Fighting For Your Relationships

Have you ever walked away from a relationship because it seemed too hard to remain in?

Growing up in a culture of convenience & individualism has its perks, but I think it also has some major consequences, especially in the area of relationships. Some great things about convenience are it makes things easy, it can diminish toil, & it brings about great access to things. Some great things about individualism are that it brings about a sense of independence, uniqueness, & personal value. However, these great gifts can also become great weapons of relational destruction.

When you look at your relationships, what happens when it does not seem convenient to be somebody’s friend or spouse anymore? What happens when it is no longer easy to talk through things or work through things? You can allow convenience & individualism to condition us so much in relationships that we end up walk away from them because it is “too much work” to remain in them.

Sometimes in your relationships you can be so focused on being ‘you’ that you are not willing to bend, change, or compromise for the sake of the relationship. Of course this can be taken to an extreme in which someone losses their sense of self for the sake of compromise, but more often than not I have seen the opposite. For the sake of guarding your individualism you are not willing to change your position & the relationship seems inevitability over.

Regardless if they are friendships, dating, working, team, ministry, or marriage relationships, they take work. Relationships are not always convenient. Sometimes you need to rearrange your schedule, stay up later than you want too in order to talk through something, keep calling when the person doesn’t return your call, or make the drive even when it is far.

Every relationship that you are in will help to shape your life if you allow it. If fact, to cut certain relationships out of your life will only result in stunting your growth & losing something that is of great benefit to you. When you hit a rough patch in a relationship in the short term it is usually easier to just cut it off, but in the long run you are only perpetuating a pattern of unhealthy abandonment. When the going gets tough that when it is time to remember the value of that relationship & why it is worth the fight.

You have to recapture the value of relationship. God has made you for healthy, loving, challenging, & fruitful relationship. Your relationships are valuable, necessary, & essential for your growth as individuals. God uses relationships to reveal more of Himself to you & to reveal more of you to yourself. It’s time to fight for your relationships, work through the hurt, forgive, determine to understand, be willing to compromise, be willing to take a stand, & be willing to grow together regardless of how hard it may be.

Let’s Do This Together

Is it easy for you to walk away from relationships? If so, why? What relationships do you need to learn to fight for?