On being content

Most recently, several of my more seasoned blogmates have brilliantly expounded on how shall I say it...living effectively as a satisfied, single in the Lord. With this in mind, as of late, my mind has started to do what it does best...wander (I know...gotta hold every thought captive). I find myself bypassing my current existence only to spend way too much energy on my "name it and claim it" married life soon to come (Jesus, PLLEEZZAHH!!) I think we all have a tendency to live vicariously through others...well, at least I do. It's easy to fall into this way of thinking especially if you are a single. Instead of living in the joy of our purpose for the Lord, we want something else...anything else than what we've got. I think Paul says it best in Phillipians 4:11, "...for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content." I've gotta long way to go brotha Paul. Is it a spirit of envy, an earnest desire to be wed with family, or just plain ole confusion? I submit to you its a recipe of all of these things...a cake batter that probably won't rise.

In my efforts to "keep it real" and calling a spade a spade, there are many of us who struggle with this daily. It's all around us...thriving churches with budding new families, couples frolicking to and fro in the park, parents transporting their kids off to school, yada yada. It beckons us to draw nearer. Yet, we miss where we are and sadly label it with negative emotionally charged words such as "loneliness", "empty", "without", "incomplete." As one of my brothers says..."the devil is a shrewd dude." Furthermore, I propose that there is a thin line between living in the glory and victory of our singlehood and falling into the abyss of longing to be married and drowning in its sea of feeling left behind with the fear of coming to grips that we may not be married. And quite frankly, this realization shakes many of us to the core.

All I can say is God is faithful. He sees, knows, and acts beyond our one "dimensionalness." We must fulfill our purpose(s) as singles in order to graduate with honors and move to the next level. Now, if you want to settle for a GED and scoop up the first thing that comes by, be ready to encounter what a GED approach to what God has in store for you means. I pray that even I can obtain the courage to say Amen to the sermon in which I've just preached.