The Answer

I think I have my answer to my most recent question.

Last night at the end of my devotions, I asked God to show me what verse or passage of scripture He wanted me to meditate on this week.  He led me to Philippians 4:7.  Tonight, He expanded that to Philippians 4:5-8.

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (NIV)

A few themes that seem relevant to my quandry about waiting emerge from this passage.  First, the theme of peace jumped out at me last night.  When I consider waiting, I feel very peaceful;  when I think about diving back into the actively-looking-for-someone dating scene, I feel anxious and unsettled.  I have to note that this is surprising to me.  I am not normally a very patient person, nor do I really like being single with no prospects.  But for this situation, I am content and at peace with the idea of not dating for a while.

Second, the theme of gentleness has been showing up repeatedly.  I just remarked to someone that the fruits of the Spirit I most need right now are patience (I always need that one, LOL!), self-control (another one I am usually lacking), and gentleness.  Gentleness is a new one for me.  It's one I usually don't give much thought to...sort of skim right over that one when I read Galatians 5:22-23:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  

Yup, there it is.  And I need it, especially if I am going to be friends with someone who doesn't easily trust people of my gender.

Finally, the theme of "worthiness" pops out at me.  What is worthy of my thoughts?  Well, according to verse 8, whatever is "true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy" is worthy of my thoughts.  The word "noble" is translated "honorable" in the New American Standard version of the Bible, which is the one I most often use for my devotions.  Interestingly enough, one of the adjectives that fits my friend quite well is "honorable."  Now I may be stretching to say that this means I should think about him, but I don't think it would be stretching to say that a relationship that lives up to those standards is one worth considering.  Perhaps God is showing me a design for the relationship, whether it stays on the friendship-only level or moves to another level someday in the distant future.  At any rate, this is one of the themes I will meditate on this week as I consider this passage.

As a disclaimer:  I realize that this isn't one of my more well-written posts.  But please bear with me.  Perhaps as I meditate on this passage, I will be better able to express my thoughts.  If so, I may revisit this topic later this week.  :-)