Is the title just an age old saying or a deep truth? When I think about important goals, most of them involve the process of working on it over a long period of time before reaping the rewards of my efforts. It could be getting in shape, getting an education, growing spiritually, restoring a relationship or saving for retirement. Each of those goals is worthwhile, but all will require patience, perseverance, an investment of time and hard work.
Our culture is losing its ability to delay gratification. Our phones provide rapid access to almost everything, from the internet to weather to road maps. Our youth have seemingly dropped the slower process of dating for casual “hooking up” that goes straight to the physical. We no longer must save up for an item too big for our budget, we just put it on plastic and worry about the mounting debt another day.
When it comes to restoring a relationship, clients arrive in counseling having accumulated years of painful communication and large amounts of anger and resentment. Realistically, this is one of those worthy goals that will take time, intentional effort, prayer and patience. For the couples and individual clients that stay committed to the journey, I have witnessed great rewards. There is the slow thawing of hurt, the gradual emergence of exchanged smiles and individuals feeling understood. Lives are changed and emotional safety is established perhaps for the first time. Those are good things worth working and waiting for.
A relationship counselor at Trinity Family Counseling can help you repair years of neglect and mistakes in a relationship if you are both committed to the journey.
