I recently was talking to a freshman friend of mine. She asked me, with a note of despair in her voice, if I feel pressured to date. God had been forming my thoughts for some time previous to her asking me this, and so I answered that I don’t. That comes and goes like the weather in New England, some days I feel no pressure, other days I sit in my room melodramatically thinking I’m doomed to turn into an old hag if I don’t hurry it up on the whole boyfriend thing. But as I said, God had been shaping my thoughts, and is continuing to, and this is some of what I’ve been learning:
When I turn my eyes to Jesus, the question of whether or not I’m in a relationship loses some of the importance, some of the pressure. When I turn my eyes to Jesus, I remember that He is the one in control of when I date and when I don’t, of what I do and where I go. I remember that I serve a God of infinite possibility. What He’s been teaching me is to delight in Him. When I do that, when I seek His Kingdom rather than power or a relationship or good grades, this is what I see: I see that on my horizon glimmer employment, graduate school, relocating to some as-yet undetermined part of the country or world; I see that around me are people who continually surprise me, work that I love to do, a campus to care about. These are things that don’t depend on my relationship status, but on God. Some of my friends will be graduating with rings on their fingers; I will hold my diploma without one. But we are all to run this race as though we were running for the prize—a laurel wreath around our heads—a ring of leaves.He is teaching me to fix my eyes on the day when this world of wedding and getting ends and we receive crowns of glory—rings of praise on our heads. He is teaching me to set my eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfector of my faith, and His Kingdom, and in this I am finding I am satisfied. The question of dating has paled—I can run single or paired. I tell you from the heart: God is good to us, seek Him, be faithful to Him. In your studies, in how you engage our community, in your relationships, seek to be His, and He will be yours.
