My ex says difference between platonic and lovers is the sex. For me it was optional. Maybe i wasnt enough for him to meet his needs i dont know.
What keeps a relationship?
God keeps a relationship. People who live in the real world, the world that is complete and as God made it, have both a spiritual and physical dimension. So does a marriage.
The bible explains it in the words "the two become one". That plays out in all of the life the couple lives, from the bedroom to the breakfast table.
I was married to a man who was my opposite in many ways. He would go off with his sisters, even, for vacations and I would go to a retreat. I went backpacking and he went visiting. I went to the opera and he listened to country. But we still operated as one person, as one team working together for the family we created. When he died I married again to a man who was not a Christian, and we never managed to work together as a family.
We were privileged one year, to have a large retreat facility just for us for a week long extended family Christmas retreat. (My second husband had passed away) There were 22 people there, all products of Christian roots. Everyone was producing well in the world from engineers, nurses, teachers, executives, etc. All were happy, No live in's, no divorces, no troubled marriages. No little kids fighting. Wine with dinner was the extent of drinking, and not one cigarette, even, not even outside. No one sat in a corner being sad. It is remarkable what God can produce!