In honor of some pretty awesome girls from my Elevate small group, I thought I would post about a topic we discussed on Sunday night. Now, I’ll go ahead and admit that I know VERY LITTLE about this subject, so I might be attempting something that will only make matters worse (ha ha).  Let me start everything off at the beginning- so you can get the FULL measure of the situtation.  Sunday nights small group topic was “Lovesick” and we were zeroing in on obsession and dating.  When I asked them what they thought about the title, I felt the uproar of anger in them as almost every one of them explained that they were tired of talking about dating because none of them have boyfriends -OUCH!  I got it….I totally got where they were coming from because for 23 years of my own life, I was that girl who sat around and listened to lessons being centered around everyone around me who had a boyfriend while I tried to decipher what information was relative to me as a single gal.  So yeah, I got it.  I even got the part where they were kinda angry.  Who wouldn’t be frustrated if a topic came into their central small group that had nothing to do with its members?  I mean, the topic of dating was NO DOUBT of great importance to their friends, but they couldn’t shell out their struggles with it because many, if not all of them, hadn’t had a dating relationship (so Im with you there girls because until recently I hadn’t had one either). Let me also address that their opinions and conversations ARE SO VITAL- so incredibly transparent- I appreciated the fact that they didn’t remain seated and quiet.  I appreciated that they felt comfortable enough to lash out at such a topic.  So here we all were, wrestling with this topic- and we could’ve stopped it right there.  We could’ve packed up and finished the discussion- But one student said this line, she pulled a really impressive move and made the topic relevant to them, she said something along the lines of, “I wanna stop hearing that I need to be pure, and start learning HOW I need to be pure.  HOW I need to be pure when deciding who is best for me to date…not learning these matters AFTER I HAVE STARTED DATING THE PERSON.”  That one got me.  I wanted so badly to offer all that I could (which isn’t much) but time didn’t allow it, because almost immediately after that question- our group of guys from our small group came pouncing in on us.

Now, I don’t have a catchy phrase to solve the dilemma that this group of girls faced on sunday…nor did I have much experience…but I can tell you this- If you are reading this and you were a part of that conversation- YOU CHALLENGED ME.  You pulled me into a more focused place for all of you, and for that, I thank you.  Thanks for allowing me to get in on what it is that you all are truly struggling with instead of remaining shallow in the conversation.

Anyway- if you want to know what “gippie” is- thats for another time and another place!  But as for dating- I hope that we get down to the grit of this subject and tear it apart.

What do you think about when you hear the subject dating?  What comes to your mind?