Singleitis

Do you remember much about the last half of your senior year in high school?

Yeah, me either.

By then, we had all "checked out" and were so ready to move on to being a college student, that it was all we could think about. In fact, in our minds, we were pretty much already there.

Many call this phenomenon Senioritis.

I mean think about it, you're at the top of your game...you rule the school, you're basically coasting to the graduation line...but you're so anxious to get to the next level that none of it matters. All you know is that you're done, and you're ready.

So what do you do when you get this kind of feeling in the singles world?

I like to call it Singleitis.

You know the symptoms: you've reasonably established yourself and your career; you're feeling like you're finally comfortable in your own skin and have a solid sense of who you are; your social calendar is never lacking; you spend no less than 1/4 of your annual salary on wedding gifts, bridesmaids dresses and baby shower gifts; you have at least one relative ask you about your dating life at every family function...

Don't get me wrong, it's a fun and exciting season - one that I feel has blessed me and challenged me in more ways than I can even imagine. But lately, in various conversations with many of my single friends male and female alike, we've found ourselves anxious for what's next...

The problem is, that unlike high school, there is no definitive "graduation date" into the marriage world. So how do you navigate this season without "checking out?"

Whether we're willing to admit it or not, it's a tension that many of us have felt at one time or another.

(whew...there, I said it.)

So how do we navigate this tension?

I mean sure, you could sign up for every online dating/speed dating/blind dating opportunity you could find in your city as well as threaten to annihilate anyone who comes between you and the coveted prize during the bridal bouquet/garter toss at any of the 10 weddings you're attending just this year...

OR...

You can resolve to know that it's OK to live in that tension a little bit AND still know that God's in control and isn't going to leave you high and dry. You just have to make sure you don't let the anxiousness control you or cause you to completely abandon a perfectly good path the Lord may be laying out in front of you...one that might require you to remain single a little longer than you originally thought.

Just tonight, I was talking with a dear friend about this very topic.  I told her that I LOVE my life, I love where i'm at, and I also LOVE the possibility of having a husband and family one day.  Would I like that "one day" to be soon? Absolutely. 

But what if it's not? Will I be mad at God or resent Him for it?

Absolutely not.

I mean, if God were to tell me He wants me to be single another 10 years, i'm not going to lie...I would probably do a bit of pouting and stomping my feet along the way, but I would obey. I wouldn't settle just because my life doesn't look like what I had mapped out for myself. And I wouldn't take it out on God, because I have confidence that He sees way more of the big picture than I ever will.

And that's what it's all about anyways...the big picture.

His big picture, not mine.

I never want to lose sight of that.

Jamie