Encouragement and an Exuberant Embracement of the Single Status

A little bit of a rewrite from my Sleepless in Seattle Blog (circa 2009), but a story worth revisiting, especially on a day like today :)

There was so much beauty to drink in when canoeing down this river. It simply took my breath away. On this particular day, in addition to the raw natural beauty we passed, the man-made structures that were built along the riverbed caught my eye. I was mesmerized by all of the interesting houses with their differing shapes. Features I'd never before seen. My mind drifted to thoughts of the possibility of one day building a house, embracing some of the architecture from this trip sketching in my mind plans for a future. Mind continued to wander. Maybe my (future) husband and I would build one together. Or maybe even before then. I had been thinking of marriage a lot during this time period. I ended up telling God that I wanted someone to romance me. "I want to be romanced... Swept off my feet" Just one of those little passing thought prayers that you don't spend to much time thinking about.

Quite some time later on this same canoeing expedition, I see this little red object bobbing up and down with the flow of the river. As we continued forward, I tried to take a better look to identify what this intriguing bright red THING could be. Before I knew it my hand was in the water fishing it out so that I could get a better look. When I realized what it was, I couldn't help but smile.

A rose.
A single
fresh cut
red rose.
BEAUTIFUL.

God had not only heard my prayer, but HE romanced me.
It was beautiful.
And I love Him.
He's quite a romantic one...

<3

Another good post that I came across for today from October of 2010

I praise God for my singleness!

He has given me time
to spend in the secret place
He and I.
My beloved.
The place where I get to know His heart and
He gets to explore mine
Mine.
As in:
JUST ME.

I can catch a plane at a moments notice
without a care in the world
I have wings to soar with
Not that I won't soar when I'm married-
I'm just learning to fly high now
Yes, someday it will be alongside someone-
and maybe we'll fly to even greater heights
BUT- I won't be a rookie to the air :)

God has given ME this time to explore
and discover
I've thought for so long
this state of singleness was a holding pattern
For when both I and my future husband are ready for each other
BUT
It's not
This is a gift
That will be a gift too
This is my gift now.

I've started a list of what I want to do while I am still single
What things do you want to do to embrace the season you are in?

(for those of you who presently know me, this is two years and two months prior to me being involved in the airline industry. It "just so happened" that I related the depth of my relationship with God to the heights reached in flying :)

<3

Being in a relationship is a beautiful thing. But being single is a beautiful thing too! Take time to discover, embrace, and challenge yourself. Take risks- apply for that job, create that work of art, walk across the pacific ocean, or fly to Mars. It's not too far-fetched. Embrace the dreams your heart hold. Embrace the people you encounter at school, at work, in the passing on the street. Embrace open armedly the fullness of what you have to offer this life and what Life has to offer you.

And know: you're not alone <3

To love... A LOT

I really don't know much scripture... but. I've heard murmurings of this among the body of Christ.

"We need to love God first, our spouses second, children third, family/ministry etc" list trickles outward. But this hierarchy seems two dimensional to me. I understand the concept, it seems like a good one at that! But, we don't live in a two dimensional world, and I feel like we could go deeper- I feel like this is a rightly ordered list of priorities of where we should be investing our time, and I feel like my thoughts on the subject would likely reflect a similar pattern. But. This deals with a position of our hearts, and not a checklist. The checklist mentality is what I want to challenge.

We are called to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our might. So let's love God! lavishly, unrelentingly, passionately- love Him with all you've got!

But does it end there? I personally don't think so. As we enter into relationship with this God that we love, and we are open to the love that He has for us- it can't help but flow outward ... My question is: could we love ourselves, and love our neighbors in a similar way- with all of our heart, soul, and might? Are we limited to only loving God in this way? If we are- that would be awesome- because he LOVES, and he loves well.

I'm not wanting to dethrone God here, by any means- we give honor where honor is due! (And he is DEFINITELY due some good honoring). I just feel like if we are truly loving God, and open armedly receiving his love- we won't be able but help loving ourselves and loving others with this multifaceted depth.

God is love.
So when we are loving- whether it be Him, ourselves, or others- it's an expression of Him.
So lets sit at our Abbas feet, lavish Him with love, be loved on by Him, and be expressions of His love to ourselves and those around us.