Our world doesn’t respond well to singles. Let me repeat that, in my opinion, our world responds incorrectly to singles. By ‘our world’ I mean this sudo-Christian, southern comfort, moralistic society that most of us have been brought up in and that we don’t truly realize the magnitude of influence it has over us and the strength it carries to which we live our lives by. Singlehood, in our society, is viewed as a waiting period; a period when we’re trying to figure out what we want and how we’re going to get there; a place of uncertainty where a person continues to move around and switch jobs because they aren’t ready to settle down- singlehood. Mainly though, it’s a place that people feel sorry for you because you haven’t found your one true love that we’re all so convinced will make everything so much better and make our world and future so much more certain. GAG. Ok, so now you’re either thinking, “yeah, she feels that way because she’s young and doesn’t know any better” or “now Katie marriage isn’t all roses” or better yet “everyone needs that time to find themselves”. BOO. We have popularized and idolized marriage as though it’s the crowning victory to our earthly lives. Ok, ok, thus says the cynic, right? Thus says the single girl who’s trying to cope with the fact that she doesn’t have anyone and is lonely you say. You can say whatever you please, but the truth is that our world idealizes marriage. We put life into phases: childhood, the dreaded teenage years (remember that mom?), college with a little sowing of your wild oats and then a short phase of singlehood along with young professionalism and then marriage. You’ve made it. People will take you seriously, they will assume you’re mature, they will invite you over for dinner, and they will speak to you like an adult. However, if you’re still single then you’re still trying to figure things out and just need a little more time so they’ll politely comply for you to grow up.
Our world doesn’t respond well to singles. We have singles Sunday school classes that the whole point is for the sexes to meet one another, start a relationship and get married. We want married couples, we want families, we want generations. We’re scared of single people. We either don’t believe they have enough self-confidence and faith in God to be single or we think them too volatile to be put in any sort of important position. After all, they’re still looking for themselves. Even those in unhappy marriages or marriages that aren’t quite as rosy as they would have thought still prefer to be in their current position than to brave the storm again and become alone. Now you may say the national divorce percentages are astounding, but do you know of people getting divorced that their situation isn't unbearable?
I find our world’s view of singles interesting. I find our church’s view of singles interesting. I find them interesting when I think of all the magnificent single people in the Bible that accomplished super-human feats. As a matter of fact, I would dare say that most of the people in the Bible who accomplished great things were single. Paul actually remarks rather against it on some occasions. Now I don’t necessarily take Paul’s side, I’m still a proponent of marriage, but my point is that we idealize marriage to an unhealthy level causing single people to fall into the vortex of lies about how much better their lives should be. “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love” Jonah 2:8. I think we make marriage an idol. I think we miss out on a lot of what God has to offer us because we tell ourselves what the next step of life is supposed to be and how it’s supposed to look. We wait for marriage and miss out on the abundance of steadfast love and exceeding joy that flows to us from a Savior, providing us with all we need to not only survive but to thrive. We as a church miss out on the great things single people have to offer us and we accentuate married couples as the best ministers. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in His way” Psalm 37:7a. From a single person’s perspective, know that the pressure to settle and give in is astounding in our culture. Don’t miss out on either the greatness of singlehood or the greatness that single people have to offer you if you take the chance to get to know just how special God made them. It’s not a waiting period, it’s life. I’m not volatile; I’m actually much more stable than most.
Our world doesn’t respond well to singles. We have singles Sunday school classes that the whole point is for the sexes to meet one another, start a relationship and get married. We want married couples, we want families, we want generations. We’re scared of single people. We either don’t believe they have enough self-confidence and faith in God to be single or we think them too volatile to be put in any sort of important position. After all, they’re still looking for themselves. Even those in unhappy marriages or marriages that aren’t quite as rosy as they would have thought still prefer to be in their current position than to brave the storm again and become alone. Now you may say the national divorce percentages are astounding, but do you know of people getting divorced that their situation isn't unbearable?
I find our world’s view of singles interesting. I find our church’s view of singles interesting. I find them interesting when I think of all the magnificent single people in the Bible that accomplished super-human feats. As a matter of fact, I would dare say that most of the people in the Bible who accomplished great things were single. Paul actually remarks rather against it on some occasions. Now I don’t necessarily take Paul’s side, I’m still a proponent of marriage, but my point is that we idealize marriage to an unhealthy level causing single people to fall into the vortex of lies about how much better their lives should be. “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love” Jonah 2:8. I think we make marriage an idol. I think we miss out on a lot of what God has to offer us because we tell ourselves what the next step of life is supposed to be and how it’s supposed to look. We wait for marriage and miss out on the abundance of steadfast love and exceeding joy that flows to us from a Savior, providing us with all we need to not only survive but to thrive. We as a church miss out on the great things single people have to offer us and we accentuate married couples as the best ministers. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in His way” Psalm 37:7a. From a single person’s perspective, know that the pressure to settle and give in is astounding in our culture. Don’t miss out on either the greatness of singlehood or the greatness that single people have to offer you if you take the chance to get to know just how special God made them. It’s not a waiting period, it’s life. I’m not volatile; I’m actually much more stable than most.
1 comment:
Dang, girl. That is what I call a rant...
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