A few good men...

A few weeks ago, Matt preached on the topic of Godly masculinity. And it has kind of made me realize that there are very few men who actively pursue this in their lives. And how easily women are either a)fooled by a pseudo-masculinity or b) are blatantly settling for less than satisfactory. However, this may not be entirely their fault (a lot of it is though...women need to wise up and be patient...more on this later.) Honestly, a lot men (not all) are either lying through their teeth or are just too lazy to pursue what it is to be a Godly man. Now the same can be said of females - they are not always pursuing Godly femininity either, but that is another topic for another post (as well as something I am very passionate about, so don't think I'm just glancing over it).



But I think there really are only "a few good men" out there. And by good men, I mean actively pursuing God, what it looks like to be a man after God's own heart, challenging each other to do the same (iron sharpening iron) and honoring, protecting and loving their Christian sisters. And I think that is why there are so many beautiful Godly women (young and old) out there that have been hurt, abandoned, abused, etc. even within the confines of what was supposed to be a "Godly relationship". And a lot of women are throwing themself into other things to try to pretend like it doesn't matter, they weren't hurt and it isn't worth it to try anymore.



Another thing I've noticed that bothers me is that many women I know have read the book Wild at Heart to try to learn about their brothers, build them up and find out more about them. But how many guys do you know who have read Captivating or books like it? Seriously. Why are women putting forth the effort to try to bridge the gap between genders, but men are complacent and content with just being the world's definition of a man and disregarding, devaluing, disrespecting, etc. all that is feminine?



Please don't take this as a male bashing post. Thats not it at all. I desire to build up the men in my life and feel to some extent, that that is part of being Biblically feminine. But I can't help anyone in any fashion if they aren't willing to try. And that brings on another question - why aren't they willing to try? Are Godly women not worth the effort? And more importantly, is God not worth the effort?



Yes, part of this stems from me being frustrated with my single status. But I'm learning to love this sweet time in my life and cherish it (something I have not previously done, I'll admit). Lamenting about being single gets me nowhere. Pursuing God gets me everywhere, whether a man is involved or not.



Anyways, his topic just got me thinking. A little frustrated with men, honestly. But willing to wait for a man that is actively pursuing God and what it looks like to Biblically masculine. For the time being, I will hold up my end of the deal and pursue God and Biblical femininity. I do hope that this man (now, I realize he won't be perfect - I'm not being idealistic here) comes sooner than later, but thats not up to me. And I'm slowly becoming okay with it not being up to me. I tend to mess things up when I do them, so why not let God take care of this precious thing in my life?



Anyways, in my pursuit to be honest, I have decided that every post, I will share a short bit of something about me that I tend to hide from others in hopes of conformity. You may not care, but its a hard thing for me to do and my current pursuit in life is to challenge myself. Anyways, today's tidbit is this:

• I went to dinner at a restaurant by myself. I took my book (Future Grace by John Piper) and ate my burrito and read. I used to be terrified to do such a thing, but now I am learning to love it. I no longer see it as nerdy or pitiful, but rather a quite enjoyable experience. I get to eat whatever I want, take as long as I want, read my book (reading is a passion of mine) and people watch to my heart's content. I love the quietness this experience brings, even if the restaurant is noisy. Normally I am quite extroverted and feed off the energy of being in the presence of others, but at times, this is a very calming and rewarding experience for me.

And now for the funny story I promised you.

So yesterday, it had been pretty sunny all day. Ella and I had not been walking all week due to the near monsoons coming through our area. Both she and I needed the exercise desparately, so around 7:15 p.m., I put her on her purple leash and we took off on what seemed like a beautiful evening. I did see a few dark clouds in the "distance" but figured they were far enough away that we would be back in time before it started to rain again. Well we had been walking for a good 15-20 minutes and were about that far from the house. The clouds seemed to be getting a bit closer, but I still figured we could make it back in the next 20 minutes, right before the rain set in. As soon as I had that brilliant thought, a torrential downpour began! We started running back to our house, but since I am very much out of shape (a problem I am trying to amend) I had to slow us back down to a walk. Meanwhile, all these cars are driving by looking at me and ella wondering why on earth we would walk in the heavy rain. I'm pretty sure they were smirking to themselves, glad that they had not had Ella's and my misfortune. Ella just kept looking at me like I was being horrible to her, wondering why we were walking in the rain and miffed about the rain ruining her beautiful fur. She moped around the rest of the evening, smelling like a wet dog (ick!). By the time we got back, her and I were literally dripping wet. I have never been so wet from rain in my life. Her and I literally made a puddle in the entry way to our house while waiting for one of my roomates to bring us some towels. My shoes are still wet (24+ hours later). We were a pitiful looking pair. Her with her fur matted down and met soaked to the bone with mascara running down my face. It was quite a memorable walk. That will teach me to try to guage how far the rain clouds are away again. Clearly, I have no concept of telling how far rain clouds are away.

God bless and stay dry!