How to Build Strong and Lasting Relationships

What must youths do to build strong and lasting relationships? There are some who would make light of this question. They argue that people engage and break up every day, and life goes on, end of story. That's an attitude that scares me. I believe that a relationship between a boy and a girl should be held in much higher regard. Furthermore, I don't believe that most youths who make a mess of their relationships get up one day and decide to screw everything up. Rather, I believe most people need some help-lots of help-in this area. Break up is ugly, painful, and costly, and there are no true winners.
 Let me quickly share with you three important ingredients essential to a healthy and lasting relationship:

• A strong relationship requires hard work. Strong relationships between a boy and a girl are not happenstance. Every lover has to work at it. Believe me, the crazy feelings you have when you met your partner newly expires, and the dream world comes to an end. Also, with time, you will see the side of your mate that you haven't seen before. And though through intimate relationships two become one, each person is still an individual with personal aspirations and dreams and God-given potential. Lovers must work through these and other issues, and sometimes the work is hard.
• To build a lasting relationship, lovers must labor to keep it fresh over time. Why do we think that because we are engaged, we no longer have to date one another? Or that longevity gives us a license to take each other for granted? The longer the relationship lasts, the more difficult it can be to keep things from going stale. I know something about this; my girl friend and I have been lovers for over 8 years. On the other hand, the longer we have been with someone, the better we know what pleases him or her. These are the switches we must turn on to keep the fire burning.
• To build a strong relationship, lovers must weather the climate changers. What are those? They are the things that can happen during the life of a relationship that can change its very climate. The person we met five years ago might not be the same person today, though they are really the same person. My point is that people and things change over time, and these changes can become game changers in a relationship. Other examples include a serious health problem in one mate, financial woes, etc. We can't cry foul when life throws our relationship a curve ball or two. Like good soldiers, we must endure hardships