Being SINGLE !!!

I tend to be one of those people who are more comfortable giving in relationships. So when I have no choice but to be on the receiving end, it makes me squirm. I know love doesn’t keep a record of wrongs (or last-minute jump starts), but all the same, I balk at feeling as if I owe someone.

Besides, if I’m really honest with myself, it’s not just the sense of physical dependence on others that bothers me. It’s also the fear of being emotionally high maintenance.

As I wrestle with my fear of being a burden, though, it occurs to me that maybe the very thing that makes me feel high maintenance—my single-man status—might be what enables me to be there for my community in ways I wouldn’t be able to otherwise. I may not be able to change my friends’ tires for them, but I can meet them and have fun. I can get involved somewhere in the evening without fear of interfering with any others business.

If we could do everything on our own and fly solo as fully functioning individuals, we’d never become the body of Super Hero we were intended to be. And there’s the upside to our high-maintenance tendencies: They serve as God’s reminders of our need for community and, ultimately, our need for him. And that’s true whether we’re male or female, young or old, married or single, car mechanic or otherwise.