Life

I'm house-sitting right now. Tomorrow will be my last day. It has actually been really nice! I'm here by myself, with only the company of two dogs and two cats. And, I guess being somewhat of the introvert that I am, I can take it. I almost find it refreshing to have a quiet house, and settle down in the evening with a good movie. Every day for a week! I don't always get energy from being around lots of people. And I'm ok with that. I still love to be with people though, don't get me wrong! I think people think it's weird to be the way I am. But I don't really care.

Interesting, yesterday I ran into somebody who I haven't seen in a long time. It's probably been about two years. She's a wonderful person and we stood in the middle of Publix for 20 minutes and talked. Publix- such a great place to socialize, isn't it? :) Anyway, of course one of the big questions I got was: "Are you dating anybody?" I was talking to Melissa last night about that. It honestly doesn't really annoy me when people ask questions like that. I mean, I can accept that people expect that when you get to my age. And I can laugh at myself over the fact that I'm happily single. Yes, happily single! Is that even possible, you ask??? Heck yeah. So anyway, I do think it's kind of funny that when I'm catching up with someone one of the main things they are interested in about me is if I'm in a relationship. Nothing wrong with that. But why is that? Are we so groomed by society to believe that once you reach a certain age it is normal to be in a serious relationship? Should I be on the verge of engagement right now? Or already engaged?

What defines me? When catching up with people, it is usually over the routine subjects. School. Work. Family. Dating. Church. And so on. So, are those the things that define us? Should they be? I suppose I do define myself by those things. But I stubbornly refuse to be defined by a man (or lack thereof) in my life. I'm almost proud to tell people that I'm single and completely fine with that right now. But if I'm so against being defined by a relationship, then why am I so quick to define myself by the following: "I'm a nursing student. I live at home with my family. I might be working with cancer patients this summer. I faithfully attend my church. I love to be with friends and.... etc etc..." Just look at my facebook profile and those are probably the things I would use to define myself.

So what really defines me? Where does my security rest? If those things were taken away, all of them, how would I define myself? I'm a child of God. I belong to Jesus. Well, that is what it would be. But that should be it anyway. With all the material and worldly possessions and treasures that I have, Christ should be what defines me. Nothing else should matter! Of course, when catching up with someone I know that these are still the subjects that come up, but why do I let myself be so ashamed to also talk about how I'm doing in my walk with Christ.

Just some things I've been thinking about. And on a similar note, today somebody told me that since the day they met me they have just felt like I will be marrying a wonderful man. That definitely took my by surprise, I don't think anybody other than Laurel and my mom has ever told me something like that. Well, I certainly hope they are right! ;) Though I'm proud of my singleness, I certainly wouldn't object to God bringing someone along! But until then here I wait, living a blessedly single life.

And yeah, singleness can be a blessing and a gift. Just one I pray I don't have forever. ;)