Despite my daily exercises in verbal concision thanks to Twitter, this “diary entry” may have to be posted in installments. Suffice it to say, with both brevity and gravity, the past four months have contained some of my brightest days. And if you’re interested to learn of those days in detail, you’re invited to read further. And if not, I completely understand – things could get mushy… for example:

“This bud of love by summer’s ripening breath, May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. “ –Romeo and Juliet 😉

While I won’t be quoting classic love ballads or Shakespearean sonnets (at least not too frequently), I will be divulging what I expect many could consider romantic froth and fancy…”but love is blind, and lovers cannot see …” Okay, seriously — I’m stopping with the Shakespeare.

My reasons for writing these reflections are threefold:

First, I want to keep this for posterity, and I tend to write better, i.e., with more accuracy, care, and precision, when I know others will be reading, especially others whose eyes are particularly critical, such as yours, dear reader. 🙂

Second, I’m writing this also for friends and family, even curious acquaintances. I think it is human nature – or at least, women’s nature – to enjoy the retelling of love stories; and the tales of couples who transition from enchanted to engaged in less than four months are quite compelling, if not ludicrous to the skeptic’s ear.

Last but not least, it’s my prayer that this post can be an encouragement to singles out there, for those who feel their relation-ship will never come in (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself!). Neither my fiancé nor myself were expecting to fall in love when we did; we had each been single for over a year and had other, “more important” things on our minds and to-do lists besides, “Find a Mate.”

What was high among our priorities before we met, however, was God. I strongly believe that we as Christians cannot expect a gift as exceedingly precious and sacred as a biblically successful marriage if we aren’t in love with the One who gave His life to save us.

One of my favorite quotes comes from a woman whose husband, Jim Elliot, was famously killed in Ecuador by the very people to whom he was sent to share the saving Gospel of Christ:

“God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.”  -Elizabeth Elliot

Where we find rest in turbulence and peace in turmoil directly corresponds with our closeness to Christ. Ultimately, everything we go through as single people depending on Jesus and finding joy and satisfaction through Him alone is preparing us to one day paint a living picture of that relationship in a context of marriage.

In Revelation 2, Jesus told the Ephesian church that they had forsaken their first love. Despite their busy hands and dusty, traveling feet, the people had lost their relationship with the One they were working for.

It often helps to think of our relationship with Christ in marital terms: we are His bride, He is our husband. If we aren’t devoted to God — who is Himself the embodiment of Love — and neglect to spend time praising Him in jubilation, talking with Him in solemnity, or crying out to Him in anguish, we will fail to be the godly, selfless, and one-hundred percent honest and faithful husbands and wives He’s called us to be.

“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church … Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her …” –Ephesians 5: 22-23, 25

Well, I’m about to append “Part I” to the title of this post; I didn’t even get started on the personal stuff!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Stay fit, stay faithful to your First Love, ~<3 Diana