6 a.m. Conversations

Let’s talk about patience. Not the “waiting in line at Walmart” kind but the kind that’s required when you’re loving someone who’s going through a season.

And if we’re being honest, every relationship will face one of those seasons eventually.

A quiet season. A heavy season. A distant season. A confusing season. A healing season. A “they’re not themselves right now” season.

And here’s the grown truth: Patience isn’t just about waiting, it’s about how you wait. With grace or with resentment. With compassion or with complaints.
With understanding or with attitude.

A lot of people say they want a strong relationship but they want it without the seasons that build it.

Everybody loves the version of their partner that’s laughing, confident, soft, available, affectionate, and present.

But what about the version who’s tired? Stressed? Overthinking? Emotionally unavailable? Healing from something they haven’t talked about yet? Trying their best but not showing it well?

Do you still love them then?

Patience is grown up love. It’s choosing compassion over criticism. It’s giving grace when it feels easier to give attitude. It’s remembering that your partner is human, not a robot programmed to meet your needs 24/7.

People don’t always need pressure. Sometimes they just need space. Sometimes they need reassurance. Sometimes they need someone to sit quietly beside them while they figure out what’s going on inside themselves.
Sometimes they need patience more than solutions.

And let’s be honest, we all go through moments where we need a little extra grace. But the relationship stays strong when it becomes a two-way street.
When both people know, “I may not be perfect right now but I am still loved right now.”

Patience doesn’t mean ignoring problems. It doesn’t mean letting everything slide.It doesn’t mean losing yourself while trying to care for them. It simply means loving them through the season, not around it.

Because eventually seasons shift. Storms calm. People heal. Clarity returns.
And the partner who stayed patient, becomes the partner who was trusted.

Patience builds emotional safety. Emotional safety builds honesty. Honesty builds intimacy. Intimacy builds connection. And connection is what makes relationships last.

A relationship that survives life’s seasons is a relationship that has learned the art of patience.

Imagine your partner is going through a tough season and isn’t showing up the way they normally do. Would your first reaction be frustration or compassion?

Now flip it:
If you were going through a hard season, what kind of patience would you hope they’d offer you? And are you giving that same patience back?

Loving by HIS Word–“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:2

Patience is a spiritual act. It’s choosing grace over frustration and love over ego, especially in seasons of uncertainty.

6 a.m. Quote–“Love isn’t proven during the easy seasons — it’s proven during the seasons that demand patience.”

Marlon Dean–6 a.m. Conversations “Where love meets faith, one day at a time”