"One simple truth, however, will always remain: You cannot give what you do not have. Unless we make sure that we have a living relationship with God, we cannot hope to lead others to that same experience." -SSNET

carriages and white weddings

I've always been in love with love. When kids use to sing to me "ohh, you and [insert any male name] sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g, first comes love then comes marriage then comes the baby in the baby carriage." I used to pretend to be annoyed and would try to make them stop but inside I reveled in the fact that yeah, someday I was going to have marriage and then a baby carriage.

This summer I'm going to two weddings I bought my dress for another wedding next year and I am talking about one with a cousin of mine which will most likely happen next year as well. I'm up to my neck in weddings. I love weddings. I love the dresses and flowers. The vows and all the rituals that come with it. But I can't help but have fallen a bit out of love with weddings. And the sad thing it's not just with weddings but with love as well. Romantic love. I've seen it done wrong and turned into something so ugly a million times. I've seen promises made and then irrevocably broken. I feel as if the whole union and idea of marriage is in a bubble and everything and everyone is just throwing everything they've got at it. And my God, I'm just looking at it and sometimes my heart squeezes and I feel like I can't breathe because I don't think it will be able to last through the night.

I know that when your eye is focused on God and you marry someone who has their eye focused on God you actually have a chance at being happy. But so many things in my life have made me so cautious of it I feel like the risk will be too great. Is marriage worth it? I mean, do nuns actually have a good thing going when they pledge themselves as the brides of Jesus?

I know I can't do that. As Paul so eloquently puts it, "if you burn with passion" get married. The thing that confuses me is that I KNOW Christ is my everything. And I know even if I had the best marriage in the world I would be lacking if I didn't have a relationship with Jesus. But why then, do I want someone so badly? It pisses me off to be honest. It's like some innate weakness in me that I can't shake. No matter what I do, no matter how awesome my life turns out to be if I don't get married I know I would feel as if something was missing in my life. It might not make a big hole but it would be a wound that would never properly heal, that would still after years and years give me twinges of pain.

So what does this mean? I want to get married but I'm so scared of getting hurt I approach most guys with a ten-foot pole. What does that make me? Where does that leave me?

Alone. For now I guess. And the ironic part of all this is that I want to be a marriage counselor. Go figure.

But the good news is that I've had a chat with God about this. Me and marriage that is. We've had many chats. And the conclusion that I've reached is this . . . be patient, it's coming. So I won't lose my faith in marriage because I know that if I do it right, the God way, it will be the biggest blessing I'll ever receive.

All right God. I'm waiting for the one you have for me. But in the meantime I'm gonna have an awesome time praising You in my singleness. And when loneliness comes creeping over my shoulder, I'll drop-kick it. And maybe write a crappy poem too.

Duplicity.

I have nothing. But even though I have nothing I will give you something.
This something is a song by one of my favorite bands, Jars of Clay.
I think this song is beautiful and it makes me ache for the same thing they're singing about.

Two Hands

I’ve been living out of sanity
I’ve been splitting hairs and blurring lines
I am a house that is divided
In my heart and in my mind
Chorus*
*I use one hand to pull closer
The other to push you away
If I had two hands doing the same thing
Lifted high, lifted high*

I have a broken disposition
I’m a liar who thirsts for the truth
And while I ache for faith to hold me
I need to feel the scars and see the proof
(Chorus)
And if we just keep digging we can reach the foundation
Of our souls
And if we just keep cutting all the chains from our hearts
We’ll lose control

And it feels like giving in
It feels like starting over
It feels like waking up, and you know it’s coming
It feels like a brand new day
Open your eyes
(Chorus)
Lifted high,
Lifted high,