How To Have Thriving, Healthy Relationships

Thriving, Healthy Relationships

Who was your best friend with you were 10 years old? What was his or her name?

My best friend was also named Matthew and our friendship lasted maybe 4-5 years.

More than most things in our lives, friendships matter a great deal.

Story of fellow who got job in west end, moved there, made all sorts of money but was too far from friends. Left job so he could spend more time with his friends.

Our relationships are huge, extremely important. We were created to be social beings. We need others. We need friendships.

But more than just friendships, we need healthy relationships

This is why we focus a lot at Bridges on healthy relationships. We’ve done special events and run a lot of courses in Bridges that focus on how to have healthy friendships.

Healthy friendships can have a stabilizing impact on us. And when we go through rough times, as we all will, it can be our relationships that help us to navigate rough waters.

What are some things that make for a good friendship? What are some important things that every healthy relationship needs?

I want to mention just a few things that are necessary if we are going to have healthy relationships.

1. Communication - is to a relationship like oxygen is to life. Without air - without oxygen, what happens to a living thing, to us? We die. We need oxygen to survive and thrive. As important as oxygen is to life, communication is to relationships.

Why is communication so important?

For understanding, to clear up hurts, to grow together, to show that we care...

So communication, open, honest communication is vital to relationships.

What else is necessary to a healthy relationship?

2. Trust. Why does trust matter? So you know that secrets you share are safe; so you can build confidence in the friendship. You can accept the word of the other person without doubting them - builds safety; so you give the benefit of the doubt and not rush into misunderstandings that can break the friendship.

3. Forgiveness - practically means caring about someone enough to pursue healing instead of punishment when that person has wronged you.

Ghandi said this: “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong”.

What else does forgiveness do? Make way for? A clean slate;

It’s been said that forgiveness is the oil of relationships. It’s like it’s inevitable that we will hurt even those closest to us, maybe those are the ones we hurt the most. Like oil to the engine of a car, that keeps it moving, so forgiveness is the thing that keeps a friendship growing strong.

Finally, it is in the context of healthy relationships that we can grow the most. The Bible talks about the best possible character traits in a person, and it calls them the “fruit of the spirit”.

They are Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

These are all really good things that I’d guess all of us want in our lives.

So healthy friendships are essential if you want to keep growing as people. May we each continue to be a healthy friend to another, and may we each find healthy friendships to inspire us along the way.