Leaving it Behind

Hallelujah it's Friday. And even better I have my room to myself this weekend and I don't have all that much to do. I am so excited to sleep in tomorrow. Lately I have been majorly sleep deprived, though mostly that's been due entirely to my choice. Not tonight though, I'm not going to stay up late I've already decided. No roommate, no choir concert, going to bed early...it's going to be a great weekend. Plus I'm going to meet an Australian. Could things get any better?

I just finished the latest book I've been reading today. It's by Dean Sherman, who is dean of the College of Christian Ministries for the University of the Nations. The book is called Relationships: They Key to Love, Sex, and Everything Else. There's so much good stuff in it. The book talks about dating and romantic relationships, but mostly is concentrates on relationships as a whole, and how they are to be centered on love and the other persons' best. In every topic discussed his main point is that you take action in love and are concerned about their highest good.

I think I'm going to read it again sometime soon, just because there's so much good stuff that I think I've already forgotten. I've enjoyed all the reading I've done lately, but when you're taking in so much information sometimes it's hard to keep track of it all.

Though the whole book isn't like this, one chapter goes over some dating stuff and I thought he made some really good points as to where you should be before you enter a relationship. Here's his major principles:
1.Get your motives right - not out of peer pressure, not out of need, only to get to know the other person "so that we can enhance that person's life while honoring God, honoring the person, and honoring ourselves."
2. Determine to be a real person, not just a projection
3. Give up your rights to sex and marriage - Give up the attitude that you have to have a partner. Giving these things up allows God to give them back to us as a gift.
4. Take time to develop nonromantic relationships - Half the world is made up of people who are a different sex than you. God designed us to have a wide range of relationships with a wide range of people.
5. Get yourself free from sin and straightened out - "You wouldn't dream of saying to someone, 'Hey, I'm full of lust. I lie a lot. I have a bad temper, and I steal when I really want something. Do you want to go out with me?' Yet in reality, Christians impose upon each other like this all the time."
6. Give higher priority to personality development than to datability - "We ought not spend our adolescence preoccupied with the search for a mate. Instead, we should spend it growing up, developing our character, and learning to love the Lord more. Then, when we do get romantically involved with someone, we will be able to chose a person who, like ourselves, has a well-developed character and personality."