Is it pathetic when two people in love find it difficult to be away from each other for a mere 5 or 6 days? Is it pathetic that when physical vicinity is concerned, they both feel as if a part of them is missing when the other is gone? My immediate response is to let out a resounding and unrestrained no... but with all the eyerolling going on around me, I'm beginning to wonder if the exciting things that come from true and real love are being squashed by eyes of criticism and doubt among Christian circles. In fact, I rather wonder if relationships and real love between a man and a woman can even exist among believers today without pangs of negativity and distrust.
I might be overgeneralizing because not everyone leans towards these tendencies. But countless conversations with peers on multiple Christian campuses over several years has made me wonder. The phrase "ring by spring" and other sentiments poking fun at relationships formed while going to a Christian college have been so overused and engrained in our minds that a healthy level of cynicism and contempt has arisen among us. It seems that every time a couple passes by us on the main walkways of our university, holding hands and smiling, our eyes immediately roll and eyebrows raise at its mere existence, which according to us, "won't last another month".
When did we become so skeptical of love? Behind every doubt cast, there is always a story of a couple we know, who according to us, "prayed and did all the right things, thought it was the right timing, and ended up in a rocky marriage" etc etc. Because of these examples we have found suddently set in stone the "fact" that most relationships are just caught up in pure emotion and real love can't be truly known until 3 years have passed and you've "seen every side of that person."
Since when has love been dependent on or limited by time? It seems that love has become generalized as a flippant emotion, rather than a devoted decision that lasts a lifetime.
Why are we so negative? Can nothing be good and celebrated anymore with encouragement?
I wonder.
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3 comments:
a little bit of a yes to the first two sentences. :)
but hey, you already know how i feel about you guys.
I think the general cynicism towards love is due in part to the fact that we've been influenced by the culture surrounding us -- even though we as Christians have the I Cor. 13 definition of love. The world, especially through media like TV and movies, promotes a view of love which is very emotion-driven, and therefore fleeting and short-lived. Just looking at the divorce rate within and without the church is a prime example of how far we've fallen from God's ideas for love. People who have been affected by the fallout of this are naturally going to have a skewed view on love and relationships.
I'm just blathering on and on here, don't mind me...
sara - keep blathering, good observation, really! you're so right about our culture. while we ought to be actively educating ourselves in our culture and taking every thought and idea captive, it is sad that love has been given over to such a lie... and we believe it! when the true definition of love lies right before us, we glaze over it and settle for mud pies, when we could be eating chocolate cake. I think our world has very much settled, when there is a love so much greater that we could experience between one another if we just pursued it in Christ. and now I'm blathering.
Elliott - no really, how do you feel about us guys?
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