Welcome back!
When you are in a relationship, your partner’s life must become as important to you as your own. Your partner is not there to serve you or to save you, they are there to share life with you. Is your relationship faltering because you’re not paying enough attention to your partner, or what’s important to them? You don’t expect to run a car without gas. You don’t expect to manage a bank account without money. Attention and affection are the fuel and the currency of your life together. You can’t have a successful relationship without them. Answer the following questions to find out how connected to your partner’s world that you are:
What are your partner’s dreams? What are you doing to help make them come true?
What are the biggest sources of stress that your partner currently has? What can you do to help ease them?
What are your partner’s greatest disappointments in life? What can you do to help soothe them?
Who are your partner’s biggest supporters? What positive role do they play?
What do you admire about your partner?
What does your partner do well?
What are you proud of your partner for?
If you can’t answer the questions above, then enjoy taking the time to get to know your partner in some new and important ways. Think about your partner’s positive traits, and what they do well. Form an integrated perspective about your partner, one that honors the good, recognizes the flawed, and includes a lot of hope for the power of the human spirit to grow and improve.
Until next time, I’ll be praying for you to take a thorough, honest, and courageous look at the role you’re playing in your partner’s life, and then make adjustments accordingly.