Dating - Dating versus Married

<p>Good morning, Five Minute Families. Take a breath with me. No matter what is happening in your life right now, breathe in God’s Word and trust Him to help you take the next step, even if you don’t know the full picture yet. </p><p>Not knowing the full picture… That’s what dating is. This is week three in our dating series, and last week, we made a mistake - misspoke - about the definition we had wanted to give for the all-encompassing dating term. We stated, “So, let’s define what we call dating… basically, any type of meeting up -and interacting- for the purposes of getting to know someone in order to decide if you want to get married.” We mistakenly added the part at the end about deciding about wanting to get married. Our teens should not always be thinking about getting married. They SHOULD be thinking long-term as in what behaviors or characteristics do they find appealing to them, but the person they date in high school or college does not have to be the person they marry.</p><p>We point out our mistake because even though we knew the point we would be making this week, we still added it on without realizing we did it. Dating is NOT just spending time in order to decide if you want to marry THAT PARTICULAR PERSON. Some folks date when they know they have no intentions of marrying. Sometimes the person is too young to marry, sometimes the person has just gotten out of another relationship, sometimes he or she has never dated before and needs to meet and get to know a few people to truly see who God has in store for them as a lifetime marriage partner. </p><p>Five Minute Families, when we parents or our young people wrongly adopt the attitude that EVERY dating relationship should end in marriage, then we are asking for many complications and unnecessary difficulties. Because, unfortunately, some folks date with an “already married” mindset instead of a “dating” mindset. </p><p>Just as we discussed last week, we must all first learn how to relate. We must learn how to relate - not imitate - marriage. So, le