RELATIONSHIPS AT CROSSROADS! "What should be my limits with a friend of opposite sex? What's the harm in having sex before marriage? How should I choose a right life partner?" Surveys suggest that relationship with the opposite sex is one of the crucial crossroads youth if facing today. Break-ups and heartaches are constantly on rise. There is a great need of awareness in this area. Attraction towards opposite sex is quite natural. It is healthy to have casual and clean friendship with required distance and care. Carelessness can cause psychological and moral problems, and later in life, relationship problems with life partner. Entertaining anything that arouses sexually can be dangerous. Morally, sex is to be enjoyed after and within marriage. After all, love can wait, but lust can not! AIDS is one of the results of breaking this law. Attraction toward the opposite sex does not determine the right age to choose a life partner. According to counselors, the right time for courtship is one or two years before the plan to get married. When the right time comes, many factors can help in choosing a right partner like physical attraction, character, intellectual and spiritual compatibility, common interests, vocation, lifestyle and family. Decision should not be solely in emotion. Hasty decision can be doubtful. According to psychology, emotions have a cycle of phases, high and low. An emotional phase is high for a period of time followed by a downfall. Usually, decision of a life partner is taken when one is in his high emotional state. When the cycle reaches the downfall, the decision is regretted. So, do not hurry. Consult your head also along with your fast-beating heart. Do not believe everyone who says, "I love you." It's a clich=E9 which has lost its meaning. Most of the times they implicitly mean: "I love myself so much that I can not live without you." Would you like to live with such a person? Definition of real love is a decision and commitment to desire and to work towards the best for the person. Emotions are unstable and will not be the same tomorrow. When emotions cease or change, commitment takes over and supports the relationship from time to time. Love must be tough! Love must be free! Real love gives freedom to the partner in courtship to say 'no' for the relationship. Avoid any manipulation to 'make' your partner love you. As someone has said, "Love is like a bird, set it free. If it comes back it is yours, if it doesn't, it was never yours." Can someone truly love you by force? Respect precedes love! Treat yourself with respect in courtship. If your partner can't respect you, he/she can't love you either. Do not 'run' after your partner in courtship. Let the things be mutual. Win respect before love. Spiritual aspect can be of great help in this area. A believer in God can trust Him for a suitable life partner at the right time. He can wait. This way you can love your partner before meeting him/her. This will give you a sense of self respect and confidence which will help you to have strong ties and trust in the relationship. Even God's love for us is tough and free. He has given us freedom of choice, even to the extent of saying 'no' to Him. And we are responsible for all our choices. Unfortunately, we have chosen to go on our own independent ways. We have broken our fellowship with God, and consequently, we have relationship problems with fellow beings too. God in His love is still willing to forgive us and accept us, if we choose to believe in Him. Right relationship is a by-product of right relationship with God. How do you feel about your relationship with your creator?