What's troubling, you ask? A tweet that I saw quite a while ago. But I can't seem to find it now. Obviously, I found this tweet extremely troubling, because even months later it is still bothering me.
Although I couldn't find the exact quote, it was something to this effect:
All of these Christian girls committing to "date" God {aka spend time with Him that they would spend with a significant other until they find "the one"} implies that once they do find "the one", they will immediately break up with God since there's no time for Him anymore and they're task is essentially done now that they've found Mr. Right.
WRONG.
Am I the only one troubled by this? This quote was made by a man and more than likely a pastor or leader in the church. And this is his view of young, single girls {in the church more than likely}? There is something majorly wrong with this picture painted. Clearly, we girls are doing something wrong. We are sending the wrong message if this is what our own leaders are saying of our choice to spend these years of our life focused on God instead of worldly things.
I'm not saying that some girls don't do this exact thing, because they do. It is a tragedy to me that any girl would choose to focus her life on an earthly man over God, but it happens all the time.
Here's my take on this:
Yes, I am single. And yes, the concept of "dating" God is quite a lofty goal considering the time, effort, and brain power a girl/woman puts into a dating relationship. I mean think about it. An average day dating a guy looks about like this {from my knowledge of others' relationships, of course. Since I have no experience in this actual dept.}: consistent communicating throughout the day starting in the morning upon waking until nighttime when going to sleep. Endless text messages, at least a 30 minute to 1 hour phone call, possibly even face-to-face chatting for up to 4 hours. I've never been in a relationship, so I honestly couldn't tell you how this actually works {but I've gotten this information from first-hand observations}. That is a lot of time in the day. I know it's done on a regular basis. So imagine this. If we were to "date" God, our relationships with Him would be out of this world. I cannot even wrap my mind around it. I could probably memorize the entire Bible spending that much time of my day, week, year with God. Isn't He worthy of that kind of time? Shouldn't we be spending that time with him first and giving the leftovers to significant others instead of the other way around?
So now you understand the concept I'm getting at, right? I really do wish I knew who said this, because I just know I've completely slaughtered the real quote. The part I wanted to really make a point on is this: when I started out on this journey of singleness, my intentions to "date" God {or what I'd like to call "falling more madly in love with my Creator and the Lover of my Soul"} were fully meant to grow closer to Him, learn more about Him, focus more time on Him, and fall more in love with Him. I would never want anyone to think that this is just a temporary relationship that I'm using to bide my time until Mr. Right comes along. No thank you. This time is so important to me, because the stronger I become in Him means the stronger I can be if God so chooses for me to marry.
My decision to "date" God {or simply focus more on Him than earthly relationships} is one made out of a desire and passion to be a woman after God's own heart. I want to be a shining light for Christ. I never intend for this to change. The closer I grow to Him and the stronger our relationship just gives me a stronger foundation to build on.
Learning to be the Light,
Jenna
Although I couldn't find the exact quote, it was something to this effect:
All of these Christian girls committing to "date" God {aka spend time with Him that they would spend with a significant other until they find "the one"} implies that once they do find "the one", they will immediately break up with God since there's no time for Him anymore and they're task is essentially done now that they've found Mr. Right.
WRONG.
Am I the only one troubled by this? This quote was made by a man and more than likely a pastor or leader in the church. And this is his view of young, single girls {in the church more than likely}? There is something majorly wrong with this picture painted. Clearly, we girls are doing something wrong. We are sending the wrong message if this is what our own leaders are saying of our choice to spend these years of our life focused on God instead of worldly things.
I'm not saying that some girls don't do this exact thing, because they do. It is a tragedy to me that any girl would choose to focus her life on an earthly man over God, but it happens all the time.
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Yes, I am single. And yes, the concept of "dating" God is quite a lofty goal considering the time, effort, and brain power a girl/woman puts into a dating relationship. I mean think about it. An average day dating a guy looks about like this {from my knowledge of others' relationships, of course. Since I have no experience in this actual dept.}: consistent communicating throughout the day starting in the morning upon waking until nighttime when going to sleep. Endless text messages, at least a 30 minute to 1 hour phone call, possibly even face-to-face chatting for up to 4 hours. I've never been in a relationship, so I honestly couldn't tell you how this actually works {but I've gotten this information from first-hand observations}. That is a lot of time in the day. I know it's done on a regular basis. So imagine this. If we were to "date" God, our relationships with Him would be out of this world. I cannot even wrap my mind around it. I could probably memorize the entire Bible spending that much time of my day, week, year with God. Isn't He worthy of that kind of time? Shouldn't we be spending that time with him first and giving the leftovers to significant others instead of the other way around?
 |
| via |
My decision to "date" God {or simply focus more on Him than earthly relationships} is one made out of a desire and passion to be a woman after God's own heart. I want to be a shining light for Christ. I never intend for this to change. The closer I grow to Him and the stronger our relationship just gives me a stronger foundation to build on.
Learning to be the Light,
Jenna