Shopping for significant others.....

Relationships are a lot like shopping...let's break it down.  I know I have had plenty, and I mean plenty of people, ask me the following things:  "Why aren't you married?", "Why are you single?", "Why aren't you dating anybody?"  Like it is so simple to find the love of your life.  Like you can just go to Target with a list of what you want and pick it up.  Trust me I would have got in line a long time ago if that was the case!

Imagine you have to have a dress for a special occasion.  You go out and you have exactly what you want in your head, but when you get to the mall you just can't find it.  You go to multiple places, but you still can't find what you want.  This is kinda like being single, you know exactly what you want, but no matter where you go you just can't find it.

Then you find it, the perfect dress, it looks right, it feels right, but you are hesitant.  It might be too expensive, you might find something better somewhere else, is this it, is this right?  Should you really commit?  You decide to get it, you take it home, and are happy with your purchase.  Time goes goes by and you try the dress on to prepare for the occasion, but it looks different, it feels different, it's not quite as pretty as you remember.  You decide you want something different and return it to the store.  That dress just wasn't what you wanted after all.

The thing about relationships ending them is not quite as simple as returning a dress, especially if you are not the one returning the purchase.  Getting dumped feels like when you take something back to a store and it has been over the time frame, you can't get cash back, you have to get the flippin' gift card.  When you leave a relationship you never leave exactly the way you came, you're like a "gift card" version of yourself.  You are still basically the same person, but jaded and bitter, different.

Sometimes not finding what you want can be frustrating, but I guess you gotta keep looking...no matter how exhausting it seems.  If you don't keep trying things on you will never find the perfect fit.  AND as so many people have reminded me you find it where you least expect it.  Hopefully it will be worth the wait and not returnable :)

Romans 5:3-4 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.