Today I received an email from a friend in the UK commenting on 'quite the cry' in my heart and the mystery of the men in Cape Town. Surely I should've been swept off my feet by now, they said.
I suppose I just wanted to process an
everyday reality and one that was particularly pertinent on valentine's day. I
also wanted to express something that is far wider than most people
realise. I'm beginning to realise that married people have absolutely
no idea about the depth of the issue of singleness. Most of the church
world wide is full of amazing single women whose grief and longing go
unseen and unnoticed, perhaps even dismissed as clearly there must be
something wrong with the women themselves - especially if they're over
30. I only know one woman who is completely content to be single.
One. There are thousands who are not and no-one fights for them.
No-one ever prays for marriages to happen. They only pray for marriages
that already exist. Why is it like this? It is a mysery to me.
Arthur
Burk has preached the best message on singleness I have ever heard.
The first thing he did was to honour those who have endured being single
and yet have remained pure. He spoke of the strategy of the enemy to
destroy families. What better way to do that than to prevent families
altogether. We are part of a bigger battle than just our own personal
grief and seeming contant rejection. He gave dignity to an area
misunderstood in society.
Could it be that this area not seen the
breaktrough required because the church at large has not recognised the
issue and is not fighting with us to overcome this area of barrenness?
