Critical Learning Curve

I still see my Dad showing me how to wash the front window at my house. I was 16. He watched me cleaning it for a minute and then said, "No. Clean like this." He took the papertowel from my hand and went higher and cleaned up and down. I started trying to reach higher, trying to clean it like he wanted. He shook his head. "NO. Like THIS. Stop being disobedient." I'm sure I was doing it all wrong. I'm sure my cleaning job looked atrocious. But I remember being so frustrated that he couldn't see how hard I was trying. It was like that for most of my growing up years. I would work hard on something and he would find the flaw. I think he believed he was helping me learn perfection. I just felt criticized, humiliated, and frustrated. I got so I didn't even want to tell him what was going on because I didn't want to be criticized for both the good and bad things I had done.

For that reason, I have always wanted to be someone who is approachable. I've always wanted to be that person you can go to with any problem, any failure, any acheivement and I will lift them up. I have wanted to be an encourager - not someone who finds flaws and tears people apart. For the most part, I feel like I have been this person. I've never had a shortage of friends and counseling opportunities and young girls who have looked up to me as an example.

But then you come to look at my dating life. You survey the damage and find bodies of men strewn across the battlefield. These are the bodies of men who have opened up their hearts to me. They chose to be my closest companion. They chose to cherish me and spend money on me and be vulnerable with me. And I selfishly loved the first two weeks of it. But there's this fascinating thing about a relationship - you have to make a commitment to the other person to love the good AND the bad. And about the time when he begins opening up to me, I start noticing his flaws. At first it's just an annoying habit or two. Then I begin questioning everything about him. I begin to focus on something about him that I don't like and suddenly I can see nothing else he does right. Instead of meditating on his good qualities and instead of showing even the slightest hint of selfless love toward his imperfections, I begin the cruelest attack of all - I dismiss him without giving him a chance. I bring up an issue and he writhes around trying to explain himself. And I say with great justification to be rid of him, "Ok. This is why I'm saying goodbye."

But the issue is not his flaw, poor fellow. It's the fact that I am my Dad. My 15 year old child is standing in front of me trying so hard to please me. And I tell them, "No. Do it my way. My way is the only right way. You're doing it all wrong. You can't do anything right."

For this first time in my life I'm realizing that I do this with the me in my life. This is why I am so indecisive about men and why I am so terrified of commitment. In the moment of passion and sophisticated dates I'm like, Heck yeah, take me down that aisle and put that diamond on my finger. But in the moment when he is most vulnerable and broken and stupid and careless - I don't seek to love him selflessly. I look down at him and I cruelly rub salt into the wounds he has revealed. I don't cherish and protect his heart. I rip it open and then broadcast his failures when I'm done with him.

All I can say is - Why the HECK is Andrew dating me? Not only am I full of physical imperfection but I am also sometimes the most cruel woman you could ever meet. I am selfish and I am thoughtless in my words toward him. I give him things because I care about him, yes. But a part of me does it only because he gave to me and I want to repay him.

Yesterday he opened up to me. He shared flaw after flaw and stupid moment after careless moment. Nothing he did was big or a deal breaker. But in my eyes it reduced him from a powerful, sexy, perfect guy to a little boy. And the more I thought about it the more I didn't like him. I didn't want him to touch me and I definitely didn't want to talk about a future with him. I didn't say any of this last night, though. I really have been working on being more thoughtful when I am with him. But I was silent and he always knows that means something is wrong.

So today he asked me multiple times to tell him what was bothering me. And I HATED to say anything because I KNEW it was all stupid. But I spoke because I would rather argue than be silent with him. I should have immediately prayed about it last night and been doen with it. Instead I lit into him. I let him have it. I brought up the DUMBEST things - from how he bites his nails to how he slathers his hamburger with ketchup. And he listened, thought carefully, and explained. But I wouldn't hear it - I had already moved on to "the deeper significance" of these little things. I told him it all made me see him as careless and stupid.

No one can accuse me of not speaking my mind.

I came home to find that he had written me a private message on Facebook last night after he had been with me.

It read:
"hey babe, i just want you to know that i care about you so much. not only for the physical but more because of who you are! i really like how compassionate you are, not only to me but to others. i really like that you want to be involved with church. i love how when you set your mind on something you just go for it, and no one will stop you. i love just spending time with you and we don't even have to be talking. i love playing games with you, whether i win or lose. i love how i can go to you no matter what it is and you will just listen or give me advice. i think you have so many good qualities babe!! i also believe, that in the future, you will also be a great wife and mother! you are just an amazing woman, with an amazing personality, and i am lucky that you would say to be in a relationship with me! i think you are beautiful and that and the physical is just an added bonus! you are the complete package :)"

Can I just say that I wish the floor would swallow me up? Here I am, brandishing a sword - WAITING for him to mess up. And he literally bows to offer me his neck and while he's down there he bares his vulnerable soul to the cruelest woman viking in the world.

So how do I fight myself? How do I fight back my cruel dating pattern? How do I truly learn selfless love that cherishes this guy I care about?

#1. Meditate on scripture that helps me remember how GOD defines selfless love.
Phillipians 2:4, "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others."
1 Corinthians 13, "Love is kind....Love is not self-seeking"

Love is NOT self gratification.

#2. Write a list of his good qualities and meditate on them.

#3. Be willing to acknowledge/share my own faults, failures, and flaws. These are the things HE will have to over-look when he is loving me.

#4. Instead of sharing frustrations with my friends in a way that might embarrass him, seek wise counsel from someone I trust in an effort to improve MY response, not in an effort to complain about him.

#5. Pray about it before talking to him about what's bothering me.

#6. Let him be his own person. He does not have to be just like me. I don't have to control him in any way at all. He doesn't have to be perfect. He just has to be himself. Do I LOVE him for who he is? Or do I ony love him when he is doing something for me? The answer doesn't tell me there's something wrong with him - it only tells me whether I am practicing self love.

#7. Think through how he completes me by being different from me. So today I think he's stupid. Maybe he's just stupid in ways that I'm smart and I'm stupid in ways that he's smart. 
       He thinks through feelings better than I do.  He can express feelings much better than I can and he helps me express my feelings.
       He has a better attention span than me. It's like I have all these blank holes in my brain from times when I wasn't paying attention and he fills in those holes for me.
       His brain is wired to understand science and math far better than me. I just happen to be wired for English which is why I can tease him when he messes up with a spelling or pronunciation.
       Part of the reason I think he's stupid is because he's really humble about the good things. He's not always bragging about the good things people say about him. He only tells me those things when I ask.
       Even when he acts stupid he lights up people's lives in a silly fun way that I could never do. He makes people feel at home by putting himself last and paying complete attention to them.
       He is smart when it comes to me. He knows and repeats the things I like and he never forces me to do anything. He pays attention to what I say. He is NOT selfish with my time. He always tells me to put my responsibilities first and him second.
       He is smart about the things of God. He spends a lot of time in His word and he knows what God teaches both in his head and his heart.
       He reads slower than me. This doesn't mean he's stupid. It just so happens that I read REALLY fast.
       So what if he's not exceptional at anything. We can serve God and be average together and I should be able to love him for HIM and not for what he can do.

#8. Ask myself - what are my motives for being with him?

1.       Am I just in the relationship for the physical, or can I truly be his best friend first?

2.       Do I make him a better person like he makes me a better person?

3.       Am I being GOOD to him?

4.       Do I pray for him?

5.       Do I pray about him?

6.       Do I trust God with him?

7.       Do I make him want to grow closer to God?

8.       Do I have to be in control?

9.       Do I have expectations of him?

10.   Am I humble around him and do I put him first?

11.   Do I lift him up or tear him down?

12.   Are the qualities I focus on qualities that will matter for eternity?

13.   Do I think less of him because of his life’s circumstances or am I understanding of things he can’t help?

14.   Would I be any better in his field of study/work?

15.   Do I try to help him with his problems or I diligently judge?

16.   Do I want him to be perfect and therefore shut him out when I see flaws?

17.   Can I ask God for grace?

18.   Can I ask God for wisdom?

19.   Can I be OPEN to God’s will – the good AND the bad, not just the fairy tale ending?

20.   Do we make good partners to serve Christ?

The Revered #18

Today I had a very important picture taken. See, we all reach that magical day we become 18 years old, and it happens only once, does it not? As today is that magical day I wasted no time scurrying down to the DMV to take my drivers Temps test as soon as possible. Anyways, you can guess the results. (How could it be otherwise?) I passed!! I then realized I was in the ‘big adult world’ because I had to wait in line before the whole process could be completed.

My Dad (who had driven me) (because I could not yet drive) sat across from me, sandwiched between a large Mexican woman who perpetually kept her back to him, and a black man who chewed his gum apathetically and stared off into the distance. My Dad sat there trying to make conversation with everybody (as my Dad is prone to do) and the man most vulnerable to my dad’s approaches had the face of a rock (well, a rock that chewed an endless piece of gum). I was seated in my own little set-apart-chair, and was thankful for a little ‘personal space’ (a necessity to all 18 year olds). Every body there wasn’t talking for any particular reason. They were just waiting… for something.

The guy that was in charge of calling out people’s names to get their pictures taken CLEARLY hadn’t been chosen with great care. He had a thick Libyan accent which tended to butcher every American name he was supposed to call. For instance, “Trisha” would have been shortened to “Eesha”. Another thing. He took the picture fine, but then when it came to my turn he took the picture, looked at it, and then just smirked. Later I got the ID and realized why. My whole face was like a shiny reflection! What a horrible camera! There might as well have been a piece of surrand-wrap stuck to my face when I smiled. In fact, why do people even bother to smile for those things? Smiling just gives the impression that one is satisfied with the horrible picture one is about to be handed. I think next time (which will hopefully be soon), I won’t smile. Next time I’ll ask if I can please turn to the side and just get a mug shot. That would be preferable to grinning like a dope and then having some Libyan guy smirk at my horrible face - not even knowing that today is the golden day every one is supposed to treat me very specially.

Anyways, my Dad wouldn’t let me drive me home. Twas probably wise because I do have the tendency to lurch now and then. Later, though, when I got to practice on residential streets, I was what my Dad deemed “quite good”. I’d better be, because I sat through three older siblings of driving lessons! So I don’t think I’ll be one of those learners who will share near-death-stories when I am older, more mature, and obviously wiser. La, that’s the great thing about age. One can earn credentials and display them along side a gray hair or two, and then proudly state ones ancient disposition. Why do old people shy away from saying their age? Why is everyone always wanting to be called young? I don't get it. Everyone is obsessed with it! Who wants to be stuck with the frowns people give the young, merely because they have not “been there” yet? (Wherever the desired “there” is).

So, I’m getting “there”. Soon. 18 is not so bad. At least now when salesmen in the mall stop me and try to engage me in conversation, their eyebrows will not sink in disappointment when they realize I am under-age. Now, they can look at me with some respect, because I am a valid, worthy customer.

Chalk it up to age, my friends.