It's another dreary day in Boston. Perhaps the fourth day since we've seen the sun and everyone is getting a little cranky.
Last night, a good friend got engaged. I got word this afternoon that some college classmates are expecting their first child. It's spring and love is in the air.
I'm not immune. In a fit of foolishness, I accepted a date with a lovely man. He's wonderful and bright and everything I would look for in a man, if I were looking.
The first couple of weeks were great. He made excellent conversation and wrote me frequent witty emails. I was smiling and distracted and nothing bothered me all that much.
But last night, things changed. It became clear that things couldn't stay that way forever. It's time to start the unpleasant intimate conversations I'd rather not have. I'm spending too much time thinking about how to tell him x, y, and z when I ought to be doing ten other things. I'm already worried, terrified even of how these conversations will go. I have other things to do. It's not fair that I have to take these things into consideration.
Perhaps my reservations about relationships and love are based entirely in fear. Perhaps I just need to suck it up and hope that there's something comforting and elegant on the other side of this storm. But right now, I can only see fields of mud. I'm already cold and I have no idea if I'll ever be dry and warm again.
I've always taken comfort in the teachings of Christ about marriage:
"Not everyone who can accept this teaching but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so since birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can". (Matthew 19:10-12)
It's okay not to be married. It is not an affront to God to forgo this sacrament. It might bother my grandmother, but really, Jesus matters more.
Paul takes it a little further (as always.) It's not just okay for people to go through life without marriage, it's prefereable. After all, there's more time to focus on living an obidient Christian life when you don't have to worry about maintaining a marriage relationship or support a family.
You might as well get married if you can't keep it in your pants.
Being single is pretty easy for me. I really only have moments of wanting romantic moments in my life. I'm comforted in those moments by the Bible and by my relationship with Christ.
But now there's the young man in my life and already everything is complicated. I'm worried that already I'm being less attentive to the movement of the Spirit. I'm more interested in seeing if he's emailed me.
But I also can't wait to see him on Monday.
Love,
Elizabeth Bathurst
2 comments:
Is it possible that a compassionate, open, honest, loving, healthy relationship could actually be a vehicle, rather than a hindrance, to exemplify one's spiritual beliefs? If one can embody the same beliefs while balancing relationships and family, perhaps this is the purpose of having the Light.
Absolutely, it's possible that a healthy relationship can be a vehicle to hone and exemplify one's spiritual beliefs. That's one reason why marriage is traditionally a sacrament.
And I am happily married to my closest and dearest spiritual Friend.
But, at the same time, I can totally see the value in not having exclusive human relationships, and how single minded devotion to God's will could be more possible without human entanglements.
May God shine God's face upon you in singleness and coupledom.
Post a Comment