Becoming a helpful tradition for me in lent, 40 days of drawing closer to God through writing. As ever, some will be long and some will be snapshots, but all will be God focused in some way.
This year, Ash Wednesday, the first day of lent, has fallen on Valentine’s Day. Me, my housemates and some friends (all single) used it as an opportunity to celebrate a different kind of love.
Sometimes there can be a pressure from well meaning people, be that families, churches or friends, to find the right person and settle down (however that may look). But that is a societal pressure rather than a God pressure. In fact, in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes that it is good for the unmarried to stay single like him, but if they can’t exercise self control then they can marry! That’s almost the opposite of what society tells us today!
I think there is room in the world for couples and singles, for both to be happy and accepted. God created people to live together in community and created different types of love to describe those relationships.
So if today, you and your significant other did something special, that’s wonderful, and I hope you both felt truly loved and made memories together. And if you don’t have that significant other, I hope you know how loved you are by the people around you.
And remember, God loves you more than you could possibly imagine and there’s nothing you can do to forfeit that. Is there something you can do over the next 46 days to draw closer to God and discover more about how he feels about you?
The Reason for my Hope Blog 