There’s this short little verse in the book of Amos that I just love. It asks a question that is as simple as it is profound:  “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” (Amos 3:3).

Many of the struggles and misunderstandings that come out of relationships happen because the people involved have never really come to any kind of agreement about what it looks like for them to really walk together through life. Their relationship has happened mostly by accident. It’s built on suppositions and assumptions with a few secret hopes tossed in here and there. But they have never intentionally dreamed together about what they want their relationship to look like.

What if it didn’t have to be that way? What if you really could consciously design the key relationships in your life?

For example – What if you could sit down with someone you love and take some time to openly dream together about what each of you really wants your relationship to look like? And then what if you actually translated those dreams into a handful of mutual agreements that you made together about how you are going to “be” with each other?

You could design ahead of time how to handle conflict in a way that avoids unnecessary hurt, how to support each other when you’re discouraged, how to confront each other when you’re wrong, how to encourage and affirm each other in a way that is actually meaningful to the other person, how to champion each other to become all that God created you to be.

If you consciously designed an alliance like that with your best friend or significant other, what would that open up for your relationship? What if you designed an alliance like that with your larger circle of friends? What would be possible then? What if you designed an alliance like that with your family members? With your co-workers?

The value of forging a strong alliance with the people in our lives is woven throughout Scripture. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 states that “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.”

And in Philippians 2:1-2, Paul challenges all of Christ’s followers with these instructions, “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.”