Enough, and Relationship

Ok, enough with marriage posts. Why? Because it's a heck of alot of fun being single!

[note to friends: NO I am not posting as a rebellion against all the weddings happening]

Being single. Ahh. The refreshing winds of freedom. I call it my time of being boss. No sanctifying influence of another person you have to live with day in and day out, that you have to love when they are being irritating. Our burdens come from other places.

Like loneliness. How do we deal with that? Do we look at couples being cute and pine away? I propose not. I mean, looking sounds nice, but not pining away. I say...pray.

Prayer. To me, prayer has been the sweetest gift found in my singleness. It succours the loneliness. It brings answers. It brings adventures and challenges and dares even. It is scary and exciting and risky and fun, but it's also safe, romantic, comfortable and secure.

Of course, this kind of prayer does not happen in one day. Or one week. It is a lifestyle, and it isn't as easy as that paragraph made it sound. But it isn't hard either. It's plain old good. The safety grows with our knowledge of God's faithfulness, the risk with our ability to hear his voice of direction.

I used to think that singleness was a trial. I would 'suffer' through all kinds of unfulfilled emotions. Then I got into this prayer thing. The emotions are still there. But the suffering has turned into a relationship.

And relationships are what I'm all about.

My Water Bottle

So you know that post awhile back that listed all the things I'd lost and then how I'd found them?

Yes, yes, my blog is lame and boring.

But I found my lost nalgene water bottle.

And I thought you all should know.

Rejoice with me.

Abide in My Love

Jesus said to her,
"Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him,
"Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her,
"Mary." She turned and said to him in Aramaic,
"Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her,
"Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
~from John 20 ESV

It is raining today. Not a fierce, driving rain, nor yet a steady soft rain. But it is raining a gentle drizzle that is just enough to get you significantly wet if you're in it for more than a few minutes, but not so much as to make it miserable to be out. The clouds make a grey light that lulls one to sleep. Indeed, it is a very sleepy day.

But it is not a very wintry day, and for that I am grateful. I'm so tired of winter. Spring is almost fully here, and I love it.

My Savior is alive.

I was reminded as I was walking in the beautiful weather, how intensely Jesus impacts my life. Actually it is His life that gives me life. I think of so many things I look to for pleasure, and how they always fail to satisfy unless I am walking in Jesus' love. Only then does anything have meaning for me, and then, everything does. "Abide in my love," He said. "If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love."

For example, I was helping mom get the garden ready a couple of days ago (we got nearly all of it tilled). Doing home things often reminds me that I desire my own home and family. But I want nothing without Jesus. I want singleness right now, because I have Jesus' life in my singleness. I would walk in His love in all times of life. Should I marry, it would be hell without Jesus' life in my marriage...in my very heart.

Maybe I am being confusing. What I mean to say is this: Jesus in me is my worth--not the approval of men, the discovery of pleasure, or being in control--, and living in Him is all life. Without Him I can do nothing. And I'm so glad He is alive...is giving me life!

"If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love."
Jesus, may I keep them!

~from John 15

on the radio/kingdom singleness

I heard something on the radio today that resonated with me. I don't know who said it, but here it is!

"As a Christian single, you should be running toward Christ with all that you have. Then, if you look around you and see someone running beside you, take a second look."

I like that "dating philosophy." I like it a lot.