Monday, October 30, 2017

229: different is normal

Seriously running out of unique things specifically related to singleness to be thankful for!

As it is late for a school night, this will be brief (that, and it's hard to come up with anything I haven't already said).

As a single living at home still, my life is very much not like the lives of other believers I may interact with. I met with two older ladies tonight for "triad" (like a community group but with only 3 people). They were talking about their adult children and grandchildren.

Mmm, well, I've got my parents?

But isn't that what life and the body of Christ consists of? Interacting with people in different stages and seasons than yourself. Feeling a little like I've been stuck in the same stage for the last 32 years--granted, growing in maturity over the years within this stage--I feel a bit behind the times listening to these ladies talk. But no matter what stage of life we are in, there will always be someone else who is in a different stage that we can't quite relate to even if we listen and "understand" what they are saying.

So today's blessing of singleness is the opportunities to interact with differences, deal with that rub within myself, accept this path as ok and their path as ok, and learn yet again that different is okay, not on opportunity for envy or exclusion or blahness.

Restating this again...

It can feel as a semi-older single that most people are in a different category than yourself, but the truth is there are multiple seasons, and whatever season you are in will look different from another's. I think of my friend with a son whose illness probably means a shortened lifespan. How can her life path be compared to another young married's? We all have unique lives.

So I am thankful for the chance to learn that a bit now.

This is my single life. Any of my Eeyore-ness of "poor me" fades in light of truth.

What different stages of life are you glad you get to interact with?

P.S. Oh, and learning to accept that other people might not get my struggles, might have no clue about my journey of wrestling with my current season, and that's an opportunity too to either communicate or to get to the place where I don't need to be understood to be secure in the place where God has me, ie. in His hand, which ironically is where "they" are resting too.

P.P.S. Apparently I am more long-winded than brief when I haven't time. :P No time to be concise!

I am participating in "Write 31 Days," where a bunch of bloggers write...for 31 days. My theme is "This My Single Life," with a focus on the blessings of this season. Hopefully it's obvious to anyone who knows me or has read my blog that I want to be married and have kids. But at 32 years old, I am quite single, and I think it's God-glorifying to highlight the good things God has given me with singleness. Click here to access the links for my 31 days of writing! And if you want to read everyone else's blog posts, go to http://write31days.com/ and click "Linking Up" for the categories!

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