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."
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