Breakthrough!

I've had a revelation folks, so listen up.
Tell me what you think of this, but it
seems that after my nap this afternoon
and after the experiences of this past
week...actually, this past year, God has
brought me to a new understanding.

Have I set you up for the impact of this
new idea enough? Ok, here it is...

We try to suck too much out of one
person. That's the problem. The
single and waiting person's motto
should be:

VARY IT UP!

Don't get stuck on one person or one
thought before you really know if this
one is meant to last or just to shed
further light on something.

Now, somebody tell me if I'm just going
off the deep end here, ok? I mean, I
don't want to just go crazy with this
philosophy and not take relationships
seriously, it's just that I think the
tendency to get burned in relationships
comes from relying too much on a dream
before you even know if it is at ALL based
in the kind of reality you could build your
life on.

I think everyone just needs to get out there
and meet lots of people and treat them as
a potential friend before getting lost in
treating them as a potential mate. That is,
unless God is leading you in that direction,
etc. I want monogomy to be the end goal
of all this, but until that situation presents
itself, if ever, I aim to keep my options
open and look at the paths that lie open
before me as objectively as possible, with
lots of input from lots of people who I know
care about me.

I want friends. Men, women, people I'm
related to, etc. I want lots of different
people in the body of Christ surrounding
my life in different ways, helping me to
be the light I was meant to be for Christ
to the world. Thank you God for good
friends. I have so many good friends with
whom I can talk and lean on, and they
lean on me as well. This is so BEAUTIFUL!
I want more of that....I just have to finish
all this STINKING homework first. grr.

Alright, thanks for reading.

I close with an incredible passage from Willard's
"Renovation of the Heart":

"..it is who we are in our thoughts, feelings,
dispositions, and choices - in the inner life -
that counts. Profound transformation there
is the only thing that can definitively conquer
outward evil.

It is very hard to keep this straight. Failure to
do so is a primary cause of failure to grow
spiritually. Love, we hear, is patient and kind.
Then we mistakenly try to be loving by acting
patiently and kindly - and quickly fail. We
should always do the best we can in action, of
course; but little progress is to be made in that
arena until we advance in love itself - the
genuine inner readiness and longing to secure
the good of others...

It is love itself - not loving behavior, or even
the wish or intent to love - that has the power
to "always protect, always trust, always hope,
put up with anything, and never quit" (1
Corinthians 13:7-8). Merely trying to act
loving will lead to despair and to the defeat of
love. It will make us angry and hopeless.

But taking love itself - God's kind of love -
into the depths of our being through spiritual
formation will, by contrast, enable us to act
lovingly to an extent that will be surprising
even to ourselves, as first. And this love will
then become a constant source of joy and
refreshment to ourselves and others....and not
an additional burden to carry through life, as
'acting lovingly' surely would be."

It is ONLY through the person of Jesus Christ
that we can be changed in this way. He sends
his own Spirit in our hearts to change us if
we are abiding in him.

God, help us to take you up on this, no matter
where we are at or what we are struggling to
conquer.