"Are you my Mother?"

Do you remember the book we read as kids? The one in which a small, lost bird is looking for it's mother, and asks everyone and everything along its journey, "are you my mother?"

I think this is often how we go about looking for a mate. We proceed through life, meeting people, wondering in our heads, "are you the one?" It can be a maddening pursuit. Because it never ceases and is always self-driven. And it consumes. The incessant question is pushed by self and society. It's exhausting. The question of who shall be our mates, at this stage of life, feels a most pinnacle issue, if not at times the issue.

It's the questions you get asked during family reunions or at weddings: "So, are you dating anyone." And if you are dating someone: "Are you two engaged?" Why is this of primary importance? Is this what determines a 20-somethings worth or standard of progression in the adult world? I hope not, because if so, I'm failing.

Is life not more than our choice of a mate? Is our life not more certainly bound up in eternity, in which none shall neither be married nor given in marriage? And where we shall be consumed forever in the celebration of the all greater marriage feast of the Lamb?

I absolutely acknowledge the earthly importance of marriage and of hoping for the partner God has for you, yet I also confess a concern for the disproportionate importance that seems to be placed upon this earthly union and the focus it takes off of why the union was created to begin with. It was intended for our enjoyment and pleasure, yes, but more deeply and more importantly it was intended to be a mirror of the churches's union with the Father and an earthly means of glorifying better the God we serve. Is not this the purpose?

Please, do not misunderstand me, I deeply desire a mate, and eventually marriage, centered around a pursuit of Christ and His Kingdom; however, I think our Christian culture-myself included-have adopted too fully secular norms and standards, and it seems the true intent for marriage has been lost in the pursuit. I believe we are going about seeking this whole thing in entirely the wrong vein and fashion...

And much of the problem lies in the very word "seek." We ought not seek out that which is meant to be given & gifted to us, and in the best and perfect timing of a God who knows better and best what we need-even if we might think otherwise. This extends to another and separate topic-wating on God-however, the point is valid here nonetheless.

I myself am weary of many & many seasons of asking the cultural, 20-somethings equivalent of "are you my mother." I suppose I can keep on asking it and keep on anxiously wondering, or I could release and repose this burden upon a God who knows intimately the desires and secret petitions of my heart...

I choose this.