Relationships

This may not be of much interest to the rest of you, but I think I write more to get things off my mind than to cater to an audience. (I do appreciate having one, however... thanks!)

I was at Kelly's house the other day. The dear girl was skyping her new(ish) boyfriend, which I was in full support of. Meanwhile, I decided to read my Bible. So I read my Bible and spent some time praying. It was quite relaxing, and just all around good. Still, I finished and she was not back upstairs. My eye was caught by a book on her shelf on dating, "Boundaries in Dating" by Townsend. As a general rule, I am pretty skeptical about dating books, because I have yet to find a great one. I picked it up and started reading it. 103 pages in, my reaction: nice. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend a thorough read-through, a skim would certainly be worthwhile.

Townsend maintains that dating is a healthy and natural process. (The book was written largely in response to anti-dating movements.) He gives the reader a lot to chew on. According to Townsend, relationships are a place to look for/develop communication, trust, vulnerability, assertiveness, honesty, self-sacrifice, and listening. Those list of qualities really caught my attention. Yes. That is what I want to see in my relationship with Josh... and I do see a lot of it, so I am encouraged! Dr. Townsend stresses that your significant other should be both comforting to you when you fail, but they should also challenge you to do better. Common interests, goals, and values are key factors. One of the most important things to a relationship's potential success, though, is honesty.

Well, I'm still reading it... well, I will be if it's in Covenant's library. Critique/review to be edited and continued? :)

Hope you are all well!