How to Find Your Way Out of Relationship Dysfunction

6. Be Gentle

This was an important lesson I learned this year when striving to improve my communication. Gentleness can turn an argument into a casual conversation.

“Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 4-7)

An elderly woman from church constantly reminds me, “Be gentle.” If I am gentle, people will not be offended. If people are not offended, then they are more inclined to listen.

Misunderstandings are less likely to occur when both parties are heard.

7. Love, Love, Love

There aren’t enough television shows, songs, or Lifetime movies to discuss the subject of love. Everyone has their right or wrong idea that guides them in relationships.

The hardest part about loving others, is not just the dysfunction we may partake in, but potentially losing a person we cared so much about.

My father once told me, “If you love a bird, sometimes you have to let it fly away. And if it is meant to be, the bird will come back.”

Well, what does the Bible say about the subject?

“And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him: ‘Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?’

He said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.’” (Matthew 22:35-40)

“Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

These passages remind us that at the end of the day, the best we can do to honor God, others, and ourselves is to express an unending and unyielding type of love. Love is considered greater than hope, and faith.

Clearly, love is something we should strive to perfect everyday.

Photo Credit: © Getty Images/Rawpixel