Random Thoughts on "The Scene"...

Years back, while I was in missions training, I remember discovering a funny and pithy phrase to describe the dating scene. By dating scene, I don't mean speed dating or your mom trying to hook you up with her girlfriend's son/daughter (You know, the one who actual makes your stomach turn at the thought). The phrase was "having your feelers out." By "feelers" the guy who coined it meant that it was obvious you were looking for someone. You know, the small talk that people start off with or maybe they'll ask you about your spiritual giftings and your calling in a first conversation if they're the super spiritual type. And if they like you, they want you to "pray" about it before moving on. Like they want you to seek God as to if they're "the one" before they've really given you enough time to get to know them. Note to the wise, if someone's not into you, praying about it isn't going to change that either. Yeah, I've gotten the "just pray about it" when I've kindly told someone I just wasn't interested. I've even experienced crazy things like being proposed to after someone knowing me just for two weeks! They were dead serious and apparently they had a "vision" that I was their wife.

Anyways, I don't know why it is that we can tend to throw out good common sense in the area of dating. Personally, I don't believe in dating just for the sake of dating. If I'm going to date someone, it's because I see that they have the potential of being a serious part of my life and maybe even my husband down the road. I think that's one of the main things that separates the Christian dating scene with that of others. Most of us don't want to date just for the sake of dating, it doesn't sit well with our spirit or our conscience.

So where's the healthy balance between spirituality and good common sense? I'll be honest, I'm still really figuring this out myself and I don't know how to answer this question. God needs to be the center, but I don't want someone or myself to get caught up on cloud 10,000 prematurely. Common sense is great, but it doesn't match-up to what God says; but still that doesn't mean that it should be thrown out the window.

The only thing that seems to make consistent sense is that when your heart, mind, and spirit are at peace then that's the best place to be - regardless of relationship status. And if one of those is out of wack, then it's important to do what's necessary to find that complete peace that He can provide. Until then, we'll all just have our "feelers" out trying to figure out what's out there; but never really tapping into it and understanding the entirety of His will and purpose for today or understanding the brevity of that arena.