A Letter to Both the "single" and the "taken" (but not so much the married)

Dear Person,
          You are precious. I know you might've heard that before, but I want you to realize how true it is. On the other hand, if you are precious, doesn't that mean everybody is precious? Yes, yes it does. "What does this letter have to do with being 'single' or 'taken' but not married?" You may ask, and I'm getting to that. I'm a teenage girl, and I'm going to talk to you about love, I hope you choose to keep reading.

Good! You've chosen to keep reading.

By this point you may have questions; certainly most of you are bewildered at what a teenager is going to tell you about love... Maybe nothing I have to say is good, maybe my lips are enfouled in absence of wisdom, but maybe you can take my flaws in words and take something from them to help you. Maybe, I'm crazy, but maybe, to some of you, I'll make sense.

I'm in love.

I'm hopelessly, endlessly, head over heels, senselessly giving all of my heart away without reserving one piece of me from the most perfect one I know. He's perfect, I know this to be true.

Oh by the way,

He's God.

Prolly should mention that part.

Yes, I'm in love with God.

I didn't start this blog post intending on talking about my relationship with Christ, but it seems only appropriate to talk a little about that because of what I really wanna talk about, and that is love.

God is love, but in the race of humanity, we also have to learn to love. We learn to love family, friends, and -oh crap!- the opposite sex...

Yeah I'm not ready for this.

I'm a teenager, dating is outlawed in my house... Til we are like... Twenty... Or thirty... Or something. I'm really not sure when I'm allowed to date, and my parents are doing their best at trying to guard my heart, but I have had to learn some things on my own because there's no way around it: you will have to interact with the opposite sex. (Insert motherly gasp here) there's no instruction book about a magic formula of interacting  with the opposite sex in a way that's appropriate for everyone, and indeed, you may even develop a crush here and there, I mean let's be down to earth here, we can't always control our emotions. So today I thought I'd share with you a few of my observations in dealing with the opposite sex, and some things you need to keep in mind when you interact with them as well.

1) Stop. I'm not telling you to stop interacting, I'm saying that, save for a casual interaction, you need to step back and examine whether or not the relationship is healthy and God-glorifying, or if its just downright wrong. (Note: common sense required for this step. If you don't posses common sense or are simply confused as to what to look for, consult someone older or that you really, really trust, and you know they have a good relationship with God.)

2) look. Pretend you were just a casual observer of your relationship with this person, what do you see? Read the signs, don't be blind.

3) Listen. Listen to the people around you. I understand the teenage circle can be vicious and people say stupid things, but I'm talking about listening to people who have experience in this area, have your best interest in mind, and have a good relationship with God.

4) Be selfless. If your relationship with this person of the opposite gender is deeper than just a casual friendship, you need to keep a lot of things close to mind and graven on your heart. The person you are interacting with is somebody's spouse, not necessarily your own. Even if you like them, and they like you, there's a huge chance you may not end up getting married. You need to keep in mind that this person is somebody's spouse, and you need to respect them as such. They aren't your property, you don't have claims on them, and above all they are a brother or sister in Christ and it is your job to protect them from stumbling and do your best to guard their hearts. The rest is up to God.

5) Pray. If you don't listen to any other advice, please heed this one. ABOVE ALL you must pray about this relationship. You need to ask God to make it clear if this is a good relationship yo maintain, you need to ask God to guard both of your hearts, and convict you of things that are not right if there are such things.

My advice is not without fault, however, the greatest thing you must realize is that the other person is God's creation, you need to treat them as such. They are precious, they are not yours to control, they're not yours to claim. Treat them with respect as brothers and sisters should treat each other.

1 Timothy 5:1 "... In all purity."

Put Down the Electronics, Pick Up Your Life.

We are a generation obsessed with being entertained. (I say this as I just completed level 317 of candy crush -YAY ME!) But in all honesty, I think it's sad. I sit in the waiting room of the dentist's office where 5/7 of the people waiting are on some sort of electronic device. (iPad, smartphone, etc.) What used to be a place to sit quietly and wait, maybe thumb through a magazine or two, has become a place, not of waiting, but of constantly doing... Something! Its called a waiting room, but maybe it should be more appropriately called the "sit down and catch up with your email, facebook, twitter, text random people you don't care enough about to have coffee with, take a selfie or two, update your blog hypocritically bashing electronic users, while the doctor takes his time to get to your appointment because he's so very thoughtful to let you catch up with everything on your electronics" room. Sound accurate? How long does it take you to become bored while seated? How long can you hold a conversation with someone without looking at your phone? We are a generation drowning in a beautiful world full of wonders we will never experience because our faces are glued to a screen unnecessarily. Take my advice, put down the phone, soak in the soft tones of the music, and look at the beautiful fountain and examine the miracle of water, the miracle of being alive. Put down the phone, pick up your life.

A Book Reccomendation

My family and I packed our bags, and loaded the car. I spent the morning at work, as did my dad, but we both left early to get home and pack up and leave. We had two weddings this weekend, both of which were 4+hours away from each other. I got home and quickly finished final preparations for the trip, packing a few books to read in the car from my bookshelf. I'm really proud of my book collection, it houses books that are dear and precious to me. It wasn't until I was in the car that I realized what book I packed; along with my four journals, (I'll have to talk about my four journals in another post) I had packed the book "unglued" by Lysa TerKyerst, and boy, am I glad I did. I honestly recommend this book... It is so raw and genuine and had me in tears as I read.

How often do we "lose our cool?"
How often do our eyes lose track of God?
How often do our souls seek the empty praise of mankind?
How often do we become distracted with unimportant issues?
Everyday.
Lord help us.