Building Relationships
In the world around us, we see people hurrying here, there and everywhere. Now I could go on by quoting other famous people and what stats they’ve provided. But, I won’t. I’m going to give you my perspective of things that I have personally lived or have been told by the many people I speak with each day in my business and personal life.
Technology is growing so fast that many of us find ourselves racing to keep up with better, faster, more powerful. If we make our computers faster, with more space, and easier to use, then why can’t we do more work in less time? This is the precedent being set for most people, including those families who have to have 2 incomes to keep up with rising costs. Why? Unless you keep up with the times knowledge-wise, you can barely find a job where you’re “not” saying, “Would you like fries with your hamburger?”
It is because of these things that the breakdown of relationships worldwide is apparent, and depression is running rampant. Now there are many books and websites that teach how to live a frugal life so you don’t have to work so many hours or take a second job to make ends meet. But instead of focusing on frugal living, (which we could do for years), let’s go in a different direction and work on better understanding the basics of relationships and how to build them up. This will help give people a support system.
I’d like to take you back to a time when women got married and the new couple would move into or very close to their parent’s home. Parents would automatically help teach the young couple the how-to’s of married life. This gave them role models. Grandmothers, mothers and other women in town would come together when a baby was born. They’d care for the new mother and her household as well as help teach her how to care for her new baby.
Do you remember a time where sewing circles weren’t unique, but rather common? Or have you ever heard of barn raisings? WHY do you think these things occurred then and in some old-fashioned towns still take place?
The reason as I see it is that God made people to help lift one another up, building relationships up in love. People weren’t meant to be alone. They need others to enrich their lives. Women are natural nurturers, caregivers. They were given to one another as a gift so that someone would be there to nurture the nurturers. But there’s a breakdown in relationships today and we need to get back to the basics of how to have long lasting ones.
Building relationships doesn’t seem to come as naturally as they once did. Technology and the frantic pace of life has made it easy for us to isolate ourselves from others. Therefore many women need to learn how to build relationships with other women. They need to be taught how to cry with one another. It doesn’t matter who’s hurting worse or whether you can relate (although it does help). What matters is that if someone is hurting, you should be compassionate enough to let them release, unload, whine or whatever you want to call it to get it out of their system.
This is how we learn about the character of our friends and family. It’s one thing to see one another in simple situations or during normal days. But if you can be friends with someone through their bad times, anger, blame, etc. How much stronger will your relationship be throughout the years?
Building and maintaining meaningful relationships with others takes time and effort. Someone once told me that friendships were like a good batch of sourdough starter. For a healthy starter, there’s give and take. You feed the starter and nurture it, giving it what it needs to mature into something wonderful. At the same time, you take some of it away with you, but you always replenish it to keep it fresh and healthy. Friendships, too, are give and take. If you want a strong, healthy friendship, then you have to feed and nurture it so it, too, can mature into something wonderful.
What are some things that YOU do to nurture your relationships? Comment below and help others.
©2002 Susie Glennan
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