Letter 5: Relationships Hurt

You said relationships suck today.  Let me tell you that could not be further from the truth. Your father and I am a living testament that.  I love your father and the life we have made – the four of you- more than I love anything on this side of heaven.  I cannot imagine not having that.  Our relationship truly is the most important gift I give myself.

Relationships, especially the one that you will someday have with the man that will luck enough to be your husband, are the fabric of life.  They are like the breath that you breathe, the magic that fills your sole fuller than you ever thought was possible. You don’t want to miss that….

Relationships take work though, lots of work.  They are not perfect, fuzzy, and warm all the time. They are not like the ones you see in movies or TV.  You have to work at getting to really know a person- past and all.  Good and bad. They take brutal honesty with yourself and the other person. They take compromise and maturity. 

 They take being willing to let yourself get hurt over and over again and to know that you could hurt another person.  That hurt you feel today is real and raw. It is the feeling of rejection, of jealousy, of fear.  All of those are the devils emotions.

You need to learn to have an open heart and the willingness to move past all of that to the future- OVER and OVER again with deliberate intent that relationships are worth it.

My advice for you is to find a way today to know that in the hurt, there is growth and understanding and care and love for another person.  To be grateful that you were willing to put yourself out there, and to know when the time is right you will do it again.