It was just the other day when my close friends joked, “Babe, your birthday celebrations are even longer-drawn than Chinese New Year… Chinese New Year lasts for 15 days, but yours seems to last longer than that!”
So it was true. They celebrated and made it special so many times that M asked me, “CAN YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE NOT 24 YET?!”
It’s been exactly a month since I celebrated my 24th birthday (early). Today, two gifts arrived at my doorstep. One, in the form of a lovely package and card and more money for the causes I support; and two, a letter which made me tear.
I guess, this year really is a year of daring to have greater faith, and daring to step out of my preconceived notions into greater adventures.
Having lived through several stupid mistakes and learned from them, I am a firm believer that love is a decision. I don’t mean to say that it’s purely rational/logical and that feelings can come later, because that would be regressing or falling into the pit of undervalueing God’s gifts of emotions and spiritual sensing. What I am saying is that because God is love and because God chose the man-woman relationship (courtship and marriage) as the ultimate representation of His spiritual relationship with us and there are precious secrets hidden in this that cannot be found elsewhere…
Do not mistake me. I am not saying your life is incomplete if you aren’t married. I am saying that unless directed by God to be celibate, marriage is a wonderful thing to desire and work towards. And trust me, it will take a lot of work. After all, it is about two flawed and sinful and selfish people coming together to attempt to build life together, and the road isn’t easy. But the beauties of this strange experience- two becoming one- are myriad and deep and multifaceted, and I am convicted that nothing can match it.
Think of it: it’s not simply physical, but something that happens in the spirit world, that God no longer sees you as two, but as one. Now what does that mean? How does that translate into individual paths? And yet, you are still unique individuals in His sight. Does this help you begin to understand the mystery of the trinity we describe God as?
As I have said before,
The road ahead of you is going to be full of excitement, and I pray that you are clearly led in every aspect by God. This is how you will find your greatest joy and fulfillment in Him, because true surrender to God’s calling is not always about pleasing Him- it is sometimes also in finding pleasure for ourselves in what He has chosen to give.”
Do you really believe if we seek, God will provide a way? Do you also really believe that God knows of our needs and knows how to take care of us like He does with sparrows?
So here goes, 2011 is going to be a year of having greater faith, of stepping into things larger than I can conceive, and a year of killing the dragon.
Keep on asking,