Congratulations
Congratulations!
You have now completed several stories. Hopefully, you are beginning to see how you affect each other and how you are learning each other’s feelings and emotions. The purpose of these exercises, or missions, is to help you better understand your own personality while also learning to truly listen to the personality of the other person.
As you begin to understand those feelings and emotions, you will be able to care for each other in the right way.
Some of you have performed these exercises well. Some have not as much. And some may feel this is a waste of time, that you already understand what is being said and that it is simply compromise. No one can force you to do this, but I am asking you to consider this: the more you put into these exercises, the greater the outcome will be.
It may seem unnecessary to carry out a task for five days when you can read the mission, understand it, and think you do not actually have to do it. Let me give you an example. In boot camp, you are taught how to fire an M16. You understand it in theory. You know the sight picture, the trigger squeeze, the weight, how to take it apart, how to reassemble it, and the nomenclature. But until you stand in position and fire a round at distance, you do not understand the muscle memory, the concentration, the focus, and the effort required. Only through practice do you begin to acquire the skills necessary to become proficient.
I am asking you to apply that same principle here. Begin to practice. Begin to develop the skills required to be proficient in your relationship. It is not enough to understand your own feelings from your own perspective. What you are learning here is how to close your own eyes, set aside your own view, and begin to see through the eyes of the other person. When you can do that, you will understand what they are feeling, and you will know how to care for them.
In addition to this, I believe in the power of prayer with all of my heart. When two or three are gathered, that power is even stronger. As you continue through this process, and as others are doing the same, take time to join hands, look at each other, and feel the responsibility to pray for people you have never met. John and Susie in California, Carol and Tom in Indiana, Mike and Lisa in Miami, Jeff and Linda in Texas, they are out there. Somewhere, there is a couple grieving, struggling to understand each other, feeling the weight of isolation and the strain on their relationship. They need your prayers.
May God guide your hearts toward each other and toward those you do not know. Thank you for committing to this workbook. I pray for your diligence to continue. Enjoy the process, learn about each other, and may your relationship grow stronger.