Building Lifelong Relationships
How do you build a lifelong relationship?

Building lifelong relationships begins with viewing love as a commitment. Love viewed as a commitment says, “I will walk beside you through all of life’s changes. I will be with you in good times and bad. I will choose to look for the best in you even when you sometimes fail.” Relationships grow as we further Commit to someone and the relationship itself.
Commitment is a choice. When we fail to remain committed maintaining a relationship becomes difficult if not impossible. Relationships further develop as love for one another and a commitment to one another continues. Learning how to love others is a lifelong journey, as feelings change and so do life circumstances. Love in action, is part of any lifelong relationship commitment, because love is not just a feeling.
One of the lifelong relationships I am still building is with my best friend, my husband. Our pledged commitment began 29+ years ago, our "feelings of love" have changed over those years. The commitment of love we share is not based on how we feel in the moment.
We don’t have to feel "in love" with someone continually to stay committed to a relationship. We can always choose to keep building a relationship by remaining committed to the person and the relationship. Even though we may not momentarily "feel love" toward someone, we can Remember..
We can focus on better times, while struggling through difficulties
We can change the relationship direction by starting over together
We can keep doing things that helped build the relationship initially
We can value our commitment and the relationship more than being right.
There are no perfect relationships. A relationship surrounded by grace, reconciled through forgiveness, and protected with commitment has strong foundations that sustain it over time.
At the beginning of a relationship, we put forth effort to get to know someone. The actions of love we show are, in part, made to ensure that a relationship commitment will continue. We continue to maintain lifelong relationships as we Persevere through life together. Love is shown through our actions and by our words intially and over time.
Love is a commitment. Any lifelong relationship we build needs to be based on love and built through commitment, not just in a moment but for a lifetime.