Okay, I got to visit my favorite place in the world today: the dentist office.

Not many people like that place, including me.

I don't really mind the dentist: I see him rarely enough. It's just a couple minor things that I don't especially enjoy:

The smell.

The aching jaw from keeping your mouth open far too long.

And the sweet hygienist that asks you hundreds of personal questions and expects you to answer with her mirror and instruments in your mouth.

So, I'm sitting in this chair with a lady in her late twenties poking away at my teeth, wishing I could have the chance to swallow. 

"So, how many kids are there in your family?" she asks, allowing me to rinse.

"Six," I reply.

Her eyes bugging, she exclaims, "SIX?! WOW!"

I smile, "Actually, we're just one of three families at my church with six kids. One of the families we're friends with has nine children."

Her jaw drops.

"So," she says, after regaining her composure and switching subjects, "Have you ever noticed a job and thought that might be what you want to do?"

"Well, I want to be a writer," I said, "I also teach piano lessons and help a lady once a week by cleaning her house and watching her kids."

"That's just great!" she smiled, "So many people just don't care about what they're doing!"

I nodded, but then she went on.

"So many young people don't realize its better to get a job and be independant! They should be able to support themselves and own a house, instead of mooching off their parents!"

I couldn't respond, since she'd once again filled my mouth with more goop. I was wondering why living with your parents if you were single was a bad thing when she caught me off guard with a new question.

"So, do you have a boyfriend?"

I shook my head, "No."

She looked somewhat surprised, than asked, "Ever had one?"

"No."

Clearly perplexed, she questioned me further, "Are you dating?"

"No." I smirked inwardly as her bewilderment grew.

"Do your parents let you-?"

"No." A smile began forming on my face as she let me rinse and sat back.

"Do you want to date?" she asked, clearly searching for a light at the end of the tunnel.

"No." I said simply.

She turned away in confusion. Her brow wrinkled, finally she burst out:

"Do you want to get married?" 

"Oh, yes." I replied.

The clearly perplexed lady started again at my teeth, keeping much quieter. Her expression was comical... but tragic at the same time.

I know it was ornery of me to torment the poor lady like that with my short, unexplanitory answers. But it was equally confusing to me that from this woman's point of veiw it seemed unimaginable that I wasn't dating at a young age, wasn't making myself available, and still wanted to get married! I know I must have looked extremely different, perhaps weird! But the secular view on relationships is just as bewildering to me as my perspective is to the world! How can many non-commital, emotion-based, immature relationships prepare me for a healthy and faithful marriage? How does presenting myself available to every young man make me a virtuous wife someday? And, most importantly, how does living identically to my peers make me "holy and set apart" to my God, who has called me to righteousness in all aspects of my life?

I don't know about you, but giving pieces of my heart away to many people and hoping it'll all turn out alright doesn't sound like the right way to go. Comparing a flimsy, temporary "fling" to a wholesome, God-honoring commitment... which one looks truly "backward"?

God bless!

WarriorMaiden