Seasons of Singleness

Lately I’ve been listening a lot to marriage podcasts. It helps me to understand marriage as a single. I recently listened to “Love and Respect” podcast, episodes #118 and 119. Emmerson describes, with his son (using theological and psychological lens), the 4 seasons of marriage: summer, the joyous time; fall and winter: the less exciting times, and spring: the renewing time. I am here to describe seasons of singleness. Summer: where we, as singles, realize being single has so much freedom and joy to it. I begin to think in this season: “Wait, I can come home at whatever time I want? I can work as much or as little as I want without being judged?” Yes, we can listen to our choice of music and be as self serving as possible. Then there’s fall: we notice the colors on the leaves, which remind us there’s good things about singleness, but we know there’s going to bare trees soon. So we “bear” it. This season of loneliness that goes into winter. And not to mention the holidays where everyone seems to be getting engaged and we are reminded of the importance of family. If you’re in your 20’s, you can enjoy your family of origin, but if you’re over 34, you realize you want to begin your own traditions with a potential spouse. Ah, yes, then comes spring. A new perspective! Maybe being single isn’t so bad after all- Maybe you’ve been on too many bad dates and you’ve seen too many marriages falling apart. The moral here? Enjoy where you're at! It's only temporary...singleness does have an end ;)