I recently contributed to this collaboration with UpJourney about taking responsibility for your own happiness. This a key skill for life, and I think is especially important for singles. It’s so easy to depend on others for our happiness when there is so much we can do for ourselves. Check out the article and try one of these tips to see about improving your life and outlook.
The ability to desire is mysterious, beautiful, sacred, holy, yet not to be feared. There are visceral, continual, intentional qualities to desiring that are meant to help us glimpse eternity. Our longing whispers to us of something unseen, something yet to be. Desire is the foreshadowing of heaven, the divine leverage, the ultimate…
…sometimes desire is something we create ourselves. This can be extra confusing for Christians because we have a hard time distinguishing between the spiritual and the hormonal. It is made more difficult if we mistakenly assume that, by following God, any whim we have is Holy Spirit directed. It is worsened still when we affirm that myth by praying about something over and over again causing the desire to seemingly grow stronger. So how can we discern the Holy Spirit’s planting of a seed from our own obsessive thinking?
Out of all my historical prayers that fall into the “take pain away” category, I suspect I have most begged God to remove the desire for marriage. It just seems to me like the single life would be easier without it. It’s interesting, because I have lots of desires that I don’t even think about praying away or consider being mad at God over. For example…
As one who grew up in church, I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard it announced that it’s time to do that series again: a series or message on sex or marriage or love or commitment or something like it. It’s usually announced in late winter to most inconveniently coincide with Valentine’s Day.
Stated as a quote from a quirky movie, anytime someone in my family starts getting a little too self-centered, another is likely to diffuse the tension by comically blurting out, "Everything is not about you!" While the phrase borders on humiliating, it usually serves its intention of putting the guilty party in their place. Unfortunately this practice doesn't translate so well outside of our family, but in recent dealings with people who I would love to apply this phrasing to, I’ve been pondering and studying a lot about the importance of humility.
