"I can't understand why you're still single!" "Do you even want to get married?" Why haven't you gotten married?" "Don't you like anyone?" I'm 26. And those are legitimate questions I've been asked over the course of my everlasting, it seems, single life.
It might surprise some of my most astonished commentators to find out that I actually have dated a few guys. But none of them were my Prince Charming, the peanut butter to my jelly or any of that other romantic stuff that my idealistic gender loves to fantasize about, ad nauseum. I can't make fun of it too much though because I'm one of them. Yes, the woman who has been crashing all over the world for the past year & a half, flying high on her crazy independent streak, is, to be honest, a diehard romantic who likes flowers & real gentlemen & love notes. You know, just a girl with a guitar, dreaming of a guy who . . . what was that line again?
Singleness. Is it a blessing or a curse?
Well, in reality, I could argue both ways, in total sincerity & with lots of very good points for both sides, plus Bible verses, ad nauseum (Can you use that phrase twice in one blog?).
So what is the point of this blog, anyway?
I want to chat about the fact that singleness CAN be a beautiful excuse to get up & do something. Something crazy. Something unexpected. Something epic.
We don't need to wait for some dude (or girl, I guess) to come around the corner & pop the question. I'm not waiting for marriage. I'm not waiting, period.
Because how can I wait when I've literally seen the faces of hunger? How can I sit on my hands when people are hurting out there & I can love them? How can I wait one more minute when the world is crying out for help & I literally have THE most beautiful message of salvation the world will ever know?
You might think that's melodramatic.
But maybe that's because you've never seen hunger. Or maybe you don't know anyone that needs your help because everyone you know is in a middle-class bubble of materialism & STUFF. Or maybe you don't know what you have to offer because you don't know what other people don't have.
If you came to this blog looking for a temporary salve to ease your pain of singleness, I'm sorry, but you aren't going to find that here. Believe me, I'm not saying that your pain isn't legitimate. Sometimes singleness really isn't epic at all. I can be surrounded by people on the mission field & still feel crazy lonely. Pretty much every single person wants to be with their Someone, even if they haven't met them yet. And so do I.
But if you came to this blog looking for a purpose & a passion in your single life, please stay tuned.
First, some warm fuzzies for ya: God has literally created a one-of-a-kind, original YOU with a unique destiny. That makes everyone feel good, right?
But it doesn't stop there. Your unique destiny is intertwined with the lives of the people you have been created to FIND & HELP.
We all want to know we're special, but we don't always realize WHY we're special.
We all want to know that we have an awesome destiny, but sometimes we're too comfortable or distracted to see it or follow God into it.
I've been there. Throughout my college years, I never stepped out of my safe & secure world. I kept the needs of the world at a distance: like listening to a Christian radio program that supports missions, saying a quick prayer for the crisis in whatever country, giving a donation online or "liking" a nonprofit's facebook page. And even though those things are all good, I always felt like I should be doing more.
Enter the World Race. And then God led me, unexpectedly, on this 3-month missions trip. And who knows what's next, whether I will be in the states or overseas.
What I DO know: I will be involved in the lives of people who need what I have to give.
That's not just my calling, it's ours. It's the calling of every person who claims to be a follower of Jesus.
Singleness is not an excuse to live in a useless state of waiting for "real life" to start, you know, like when we're UN-single. Singleness is not an excuse to be self-consumed, afraid or lazy.
Singleness is a beautiful excuse to do something. Something crazy. Something unexpected. Something epic.
One day, my Prince Charming will come riding up, probably not on a white steed, since I'm not a big fan of horses. He'll probably be paddling a canoe or driving a tuk tuk. But in the meantime, I'm needed.
And you're needed. What are you going to do about it?
"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all . . . that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him."
I Corinthians 5:15
