Earlier today, a friend and I were having a conversation over coffee about our future relationships and careers.  Kinda standard for most single girls in their twenties, right? Yet, there was one observation from our discussion this morning that has been haunting me all day. My friend summarized it best: "we can't date potential". 

In other words, you can't consider a relationship with someone because you like who they could be later down the road. When you begin a relationship with someone, you need to like who they are now and the possibility of the two of you journeying into the future together.

I totally agree, but I hadn't considered the reciprocity of that statement: no one can date potential.

The bottom line is this: no guy should even consider beginning a relationship with me. Why? Because he shouldn't settle for dating potential either. At this point, I have the potential to be a great partner in life and ministry ... but, right now, it is just that- unrealized potential. I'll be the first to admit there are some significant areas of growth in my transformational process that need to be tackled before I would even consider myself dateable.

Despite the fact that I don't see myself in a relationship in the immediate future,  I still need to begin seriously considering the fact that my future husband deserves way more than just potential. 

And, more importantly, God is worthy of so much more than potential. So, here's to working towards making that potential a reality.

"A universe that needed someone to observe it in order to collapse it into existence would be a pretty sorry universe indeed."

I critique movies using one simple question: is there anything I can take away from the two hours of my life I just wasted?  A satisfactory answer doesn't necessarily indicate intricate plot lines, quality acting, or impressive cinematography. If a movie causes me to ask questions and evaluate life, it passes my test and I consider it two hours well spent.  My favorite movies are usually the ones that are unappreciated, low-budgeted, and unknown. In other words, I am a sucker for indie films.

Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start

It's not often that I get behind a microphone these days. Funny since I used to spend my life behind the podium... public speaking contests, debate, speeches.  Speaking doesn't make me nervous; preaching does. Today I had the opportunity to preach for only the second time. The topic was james 4: framing your faith and life by submitting to God's will. The essence was that we need to trade our self-centered framing mechanism for humility- a God centered schema.

Truth be told. I'm not feeling particularly great about tonight's sermon. On one hand, I know that I brought across all the points that I believe that God wanted me to with this passage. I know that said what I needed to say, and I know that God will use that for His glory. On the other hand, analyzing from my public speaking experience,  I know my delivery was as good as it could have been. After adding an impromptu idea that wasn't in my outline, I really struggled to close the talk and call people to a response. Also, I felt like I could have made some of my points a little more relatable.  And, I went a few minutes long without being succinct. Overall, I thought it went okay, but was humbly reminded that there are always areas for improvement.

As I opened my message, I told my friends that I needed to relearn these truths as much as I believe they needed to hear them.  So true, and accurate. I preached  about humility tonight, and I learned humility tonight. My performance was mediocre, but since when is preaching about performance? I have a lot to learn, and am grateful for the reminder that I need to continually submit to God's will with a posture of learning.  My prayer is that God will increase in my own life, that I will be continually humbled, and that God would use me to bring others to Himself.

Also, as I'm writing this, I'm also prayerfully considering tonight. I felt compelled to pick up My Utmost for His Highest off my bookshelf... the passage for tonight:

"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you —James 4:8 

It is essential that you give people the opportunity to act on the truth of God. The responsibility must be left with the individual— you cannot act for him. It must be his own deliberate act, but the evangelical message should always lead him to action. Refusing to act leaves a person paralyzed, exactly where he was previously. But once he acts, he is never the same. It is the apparent folly of the truth that stands in the way of hundreds who have been convicted by the Spirit of God. Once I press myself into action, I immediately begin to live. Anything less is merely existing..."