Almost 100 days have passed since my last post and, for good reason, I have been absent in my writing. My life has swelled with an all consuming life decision and some interesting occurrence of events have caused me to rethink my personal goals.

Unfortunately, I can’t say anything specific, but my curiosity arises as I ponder what plans God has for me in the coming year. I’ve always known I was meant for greatness, but greatness is truly subjective. Generally speaking, figures of greatness possess the qualities of compassion, cleverness and character. Mother Theresa, Dietrich Bonhoeffer , Oprah. These are all people who are considered to be great.

What of the single mother of four, whose abusive husband has caused the broken family to flee? Is she great?

Or the man who humbly sells his possessions, in hopes to bring the Christmas Gospel to unknown tribes of South America? Is he great?

We are quick to admire the public figures of greatness, those who Society holds in esteem, yet we fail to identify those who are quietly great. The humble missionaries or the silent martyrs of faith.

In the midst of Christmas, decision making, and a new year, what great things will God put in my life? In your life? Will He esteem us in such a way that will allow others to deem us great? Or, will He plan a humble path for our futures? Truly, truly, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live…I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me…” (Gal. 2:20).

Christ is great, therefore, we are great.

May you seek His greatness this Christmas. After all, isn’t the birth of our Savior the greatest act of all?

Waiting for ..."the one"

As a little girl, I spent hours…no, days…dreaming of my imaginative hero. At 5 years old, I would imagine a G.I. Joe-looking, rugged man of arms, rescuing me from the evil queen (my baby sister) who held me captive in a pink life-sized Barbie Dream House and 80′s-era Laura Ashley dungeon (my bedroom). While in my dark and dreary rose petal wallpapered hole of despair, the only solace I would find, until I was released from hell, was to write my poor darling, the one I loved, Chanel No. 9-scented love letters.

Much to my surprise, he never came and, sadly, I independently rescued myself and ran outside to eat mud with the rest of the neighborhood children. To this day, I patiently wait for G.I. Joe to come along, however I still find the idea of writing love letters insanely romantic.

In the age of e-mail and Facebook messages, it almost seems primitive, even barbaric, to send a letter through the men in blue, our monopolistic friends at the US Post Office…”snail mail”. Yet, when that letter arrives to its destination, there’s a sense of joy and wonder one gets when receiving an envelope that’s not a bill or a “Million Dollar Winner” fraud package.

Don’t get me wrong, e-mail is convenient and Facebook is awesome, but when was the last time you wrote a letter?

…Especially, a love letter?

Love letters are the stuff of romance novels and tear-jerking chick flicks. Love letters are what spawn stories told to grandchildren. Love letters spark anticipation and pursue courtship. There’s nothing better than a well written letter, flattering and pouring with passion, yearning for intimacy when the distance is great…or small.

Have we entered an era where writing a letter is considered too inconvenient? Has the love letter been tossed aside like a worn out, moth eaten coat? Will our grandchildren even care if love letters were exchanged or would they want to know details of when the relationship became “FBO” (FaceBook Official)?

Now, the idiot in the video, only writing “snail mail” went a little overboard, yet they have a point…if you truly love someone, you’ll do anything to contact them. I’m not saying that Facebook, e-mail or text aren’t viable and resourceful ways of getting in touch with someone, especially if you’re already in a relationship, however, stretch yourself to be more romantic.

Grab a feathered pen, a copy of Shakespeare’s Sonnets and squirt some Axe on that monogrammed stationary your mom gave you for Christmas 3 years ago. Get in touch with your “inner-emo” and tell that girl how much you really care about her. Even if you feel emotionally violated afterward, she’ll melt in your arms the instant she opens up her mailbox.

Happy writing!

Facebook is a Romance Killer!

As this awesomely hilarious video (above) shows us, Facebook and other social networking sites takes the beautiful and alluding concept of destiny, mystery, and romance and slaps it in the face like a carni.

Sure, Facebook is great for finding old friends from high school and rubbing your success in their digital faces through that wicked picture of you and your 1,000-foot yacht off the coast of St. Bart’s. It’s super convenient to be able to cyber-stalk your ex-boyfriend, along with his new girlfriend (or whoever that girl is in his new profile picture…) via the internet and Google.

However, when it comes to romance and love, Facebook isn’t the greatest outlet for stirring up the fiery embers of the heart.

Instead, here are some rules and appropriate exceptions to kindling passion, without the usage of a wireless connection…

Flowers

Rule: Ladies love the flowers! Whether you bring them to her work, or send her flowers at home, do not use Google and/or the White Pages online to get her contact information! Instead, use God’s gift of listening to find out where she works. Be careful. Don’t show up unannounced or unexpectedly. This is creepy. Instead, meet her for lunch and bring a bouquet with you. This is normal. We’ll talk more about creepy vs. normal in a later series.

Exception: If she posts something like “I love Daisies” as her Facebook status, fine. If she happened to be carrying a bouquet of daisies in her profile picture from March, 2007, not fine.

Music/Movie/TV Interests

Rule: Don’t come to the first date already knowing his “interests”. He won’t be impressed that you spent the greater part of the day sifting through his profile, looking for hidden clues about his life. Just because you went through all that  trouble memorizing all of his “quotes” doesn’t mean he’s going to ask you out again. In fact, he’s probably blocking your number from his cell phone plan.

Exception: There is no exception to this rule. Just don’t do it.

Family and Friends

Rule: Meeting the family, or even the friends, is always an exciting time in the relationship. It means that things are moving forward and getting more serious. If you haven’t been introduced in person, do not ask to be “Friends” with her significant others. In fact, it’s probably a good idea not to ask anyone to be your “Friend”, unless you’ve met them in real life.

Exception: If they ask to be your “Friend”, go for it, but be careful. It might be a ploy to get information out of you via your profile.

Just Don’t Do It…

Stay away from the following:

• Using a pick-up line in either a private message or on someone’s “Wall”
• Posting semi-nude pictures of yourself on your interest’s “Wall”. Not only is this public to every one of his friends, it’s super trashy. Please, stay classy…e-mail it to him!
• Searching for her phone number on her profile and using it to ask her out on a date. While you did refrain from asking her out online, you managed to creep her out since she never gave it to you in the first place. Man up and just ask for her number, in person… *Ladies, don’t post your phone number on Facebook!*
• Utilizing the “Poking” button as a means of  flirting. It’s definitely not the same and after a while it gets annoying.
• Changing your profile picture to you with that hot guy from last year’s Halloween party, in hopes of making him jealous. That’s just sad.
• Proposing via Status Update

Whether you’re catching up with old College buddies or networking with coworkers, Facebook can be great, but, please leave the romance to the professionals who have the decency to do it right…in person!

The world has gone tech and romance has gone with it.

In this era of text messages, e-mails, the MySpace vs. Facebook debacle and convenient online dating websites, I’ve suddenly realized how annoying it is to have to check each cyber account just to find true love, maintain true love or tortuously be rejected by “seven different portals of technology”.

Why is it that we’ve allowed ourselves to apathetically stare at some kind of screen, albeit conveniently in our underwear, instead of getting our sorry selves off the couch and into the world of face-to-face relational contact?

Skype doesn’t count.

In light of my new personal goal to avoid relationships via technology, I’ve decided to dedicate this next series, entitled “Love in the Age of Tech”, to how we, as relational human beings can slowly re-adapt ourselves to pursuing romance without the limiting, awkward and taboo portal of text messaging, social networking sites and computers.

Who’s with me?!

Life is crazy…work has been insanely busy…and turning 25 is way more depressing than I thought it would be.

Happy Birthday, me!

Yes, it’s been over a year since I’ve begun the documentation of my single life. I planned on writing something pithy and creative for my 365th day, but since my quarter-life-crisis kicked into full gear on October 9th, I didn’t really have time, nor the energy, passion or desire, to write anything.

However, since I’m a fan of the ever, clever List. Here is one that’s all about some of the things I learned the past few hundred days…

• Kayaking – Who could forget my kayaking adventure? Refusing to wear a wet-suit in the freezing American River, in the middle of March, followed by my tipping catastrophe a mere 30 seconds after getting in my boat. Oy, vey!

• Politics – I love people. I heart social justice. I hate politics. I know this really perturbs some of my readers (who leave various comments quite freely), but I have adopted the great annoyance of apathy.

• Whitewater Rafting – Super fun! Would definitely do it again! Might need to pump some iron beforehand, though. I think my arms were limp spaghetti limbs for a week after I went!

• Speed Dating – Just…say…no.

• Online Dating – Again…just…say…NO!

• Being Single Kinda’ Sucks! – Honestly, it’s true. I love being able to drive down to Orange County for a spontaneous weekend or dance around my living room in my underwear (Naked Tuesdays!) but, being alone, having to RSVP without a guest, and constantly going on first dates that rarely lead to a second is quite discouraging.

So, here we go…another year. Man, that sounds depressing.

I really am happy! I be rockin’ it!

After all, you married people don’t got Beyonce…