Relationships-Finishing My Thoughts

(Written in July 2014–just a month before meeting my husband Antonio)

We had a lesson in church today about marriage. How do you talk about marriage in a singles ward?

Very. Carefully.

The woman teaching did an excellent job. She emphasized two trains of thought. Covenants and Stewardship.

A covenant is a two way promise. Covenants bind us together. They establish empowering relationships.

We need each other. Alone we are just alone. We have ourselves. And that’s swell, but our relationships to one another allow us to be more than we are alone. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. We need one another.

The value of relationships can be found throughout discipleship through comforting one another, playing games, laughter, teaching together, sustaining one another in different callings, etc.

Marriage is an important relationship, but it isn’t the only relationship we ought to value. I wouldn’t even say it’s the pentultimate relationship. Perhaps I’ll feel differently when I get married, but I’ve seen enough friends get married to know that they each go through a period where they wake up from the “I don’t need anyone else but you” phase and come searching for other friends–because they NEED the connections. Our good relationships empower us because they allow us to be happy and fulfilled even when we’re not quite finished baking. I know that there are a lot of things I can be better at–but when I spend time with my good friends and loving family members–I leave feeling complete in a way that I don’t feel when I’m trying to rely solely on my own talents to thrive in life. It’s a subconscious thing–but there’s a feeling that I am a part of a greater whole. I am interconnected in a magical way. We are larger than the sum of our parts.

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Today.

After being with Antonio for 6 years now, and married for 5 years, I can say I agree with my single self’s assessments. Our connections are powerful and friendship is divine. I am moved when I read the scriptures where Christ calls us his friends. Friendship is sacred.