“Your worth is not based on who chooses to love you and who does not, but rather by who you choose to love.” (I think I just made it up, but forgive me if I’m wrong)
I have this problem that I keep running into. It is not exactly MY problem, but it affects me because it makes me so sad.
I have about five friends that I can name, off the top of my head, that all are desperately seeking a romantic relationship. Often, they don’t even have a specific person in mind, but they are in a state of constantly seeking a relationship – any relationship. They begin many superficial relationships, always with the wrong person (who in the end, ends up breaking their hearts). They move from relationship to relationship, and do not feel complete unless there is another person to share their Friday nights with. These are some of my closest friends, who are incredibly special to me, and they feel as if they are inadequate because they are not in a relationship right now. They feel as though their worth is based on whether the current person they are attracted to reciprocates their feelings. It makes my heart cry.
I know I am not an expert on love, by any means, but I feel my heart breaking for them. Not because they cannot find love, but because they feel as if they are less of a person because they have not found it yet. Your worth should be based off of the type of person you choose to be, not if a particular person (or even if it is several particular people) do not choose to return your affection. We are all better than that. Those are the wrong people to date if they cannot see us for who we are, and love us for every bit of it. And just because those “wrong” people do not choose to love us, doesn’t make us less of a person. I know of someone who loves you, more than you could ever know, and that in itself makes you worthy.
To steal a saying from a very wise person, we should not strive for happiness, but strive to be the type of person who deserves to be happy. Everything else will fall in place after that.
John 12:43 (NLT) – “For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.”
