All the single ladies, all the single ladies

What do you think of when you hear the word "single"? I think of Beyonce and chocolate.

Well today, I was looking through my new bright pink Message Bible and noticed in the Atopical Index that they had a section titled "Singleness". After doing a double take, I decided to take a look. I wasn't sure what to be prepared for. Break up advice? People who disobeyed God and ended up dying alone?

I didn't find either of the above. Instead, I found great men and women of God who ended up not marrying anyone and serving God with all they had. In our world today, we have this awful fear of never finding anyone to share our lives with. Girls have this incredible expectation to turn into a lady that will marry right after college, pop out a few kids, and stay at home baking cookies. Trust me, I'm not hating. At all. Because yes, I do want to marry. And I do want kids. And I want to own a bakery. But, that's just not for everyone.

1 Corinthians 7 is full of advice on this subject. My favorite verses in this chapter are verses 32-35. They say: I want you to live as free of complications as possible. When you're unmarried, you're free to concentrate on simply pleasing the Master. Marriage involves you in all the nuts and bolts of domestic life and in wanting to please your spouse, leading to so many more demands on your attention. The time and energy that married people spend on caring for and nurturing each other, the unmarried can spend in becoming whole and holy instruments of God. I'm trying to be helpful and make it as easy as possible for you, not make things harder. All I want is for you to be able to develop a way of life in which you can spend plenty of time together with the Master without a lot of distractions.

Usually when people tell you that it's okay to be single and that there is no shame in it, you're usually thinking it's because they never got married and will most likely die alone. Just sayinnn. But after reading some more, and thinking and preparing for my mission trip, I realized it really is okay to be single. It's soo much easier to listen to the Lord and follow His instructions when you're not distracted by a really cute boy. I mean, boys are great, but they are uber distracting. Don't we want to be able to serve God with everything we have in us?

I'm not saying boys are bad or it's bad to get married. Trust me. But just think of how much work in God's Kingdom could get done while we wait for the perfect boy for us. The one God hand picked especially for us. Because, remember, that boy will come for you. And it is okay to be single in the meantime. ;)